almostwitty (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
almostwitty) wrote2025-10-01 11:51 am
almostwitty) wrote2025-10-01 11:51 am
Aural assault ;)
Me watching Across The Spiderverse - amazing film, but boy is it an assault on my poor ears.
Hammersmith Apollo:
Hammersmith Apollo:
dark_kana (dark_kana) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
3_good_things_a_day2025-10-01 11:34 am
dark_kana) wrote in 3_good_things_a_day2025-10-01 11:34 amWednesday 01/10/2025
1) going to finish reading a good book today during lunchbreak ^^
2) going to try and prepare some of the kids this evening for their next jiujitsu exam
3) hubby's mum is staying for dinner
peaceful_sands (peaceful_sands) wrote in bitesizedcleaning2025-10-01 07:26 am
peaceful_sands) wrote in bitesizedcleaning2025-10-01 07:26 amEntry tags:
Organisational October - Day 1
Welcome to our very first Organisational October. The purpose of the month is to work on the organisational aspects of your home rather than the usual cleaning with the goal being to help make the cleaning and maintenance easier. It's also admitting that as mod I'm struggling with keeping up with posting in amidst everything else that I'm juggling at the moment.
So here's the daily plan - remember you can tweak the suggestions to better work for you if something doesn't quite hit what your situation needs, you can skip a day, pick a different day, stick with a task from an earlier day that you need a bit longer to finish - it's all cool here!
This post will remain the place to comment until I next get chance to put up a post. I encourage you to tell us how you are getting on and to cheer on fellow posters.
( Daily Challenge Table shown below the cut )
Hopefully there's enough information in the table to give you a general guide without being too restrictive - feel free to adapt the suggestions and change out days that don't feel relevant or aren't what you most need. Really importantly, PLEASE do not forget we are all about bite-sizing so we're not aiming to get the whole of a room done, we're looking to target a key area within a space or within a task to make progress on it - this is about starting the process and knowing that we can move towards our goal step by step - not in massive jumps when life, health & energy conspire!
Have a great October.
So here's the daily plan - remember you can tweak the suggestions to better work for you if something doesn't quite hit what your situation needs, you can skip a day, pick a different day, stick with a task from an earlier day that you need a bit longer to finish - it's all cool here!
This post will remain the place to comment until I next get chance to put up a post. I encourage you to tell us how you are getting on and to cheer on fellow posters.
( Daily Challenge Table shown below the cut )
Hopefully there's enough information in the table to give you a general guide without being too restrictive - feel free to adapt the suggestions and change out days that don't feel relevant or aren't what you most need. Really importantly, PLEASE do not forget we are all about bite-sizing so we're not aiming to get the whole of a room done, we're looking to target a key area within a space or within a task to make progress on it - this is about starting the process and knowing that we can move towards our goal step by step - not in massive jumps when life, health & energy conspire!
Have a great October.
Siderea (siderea) wrote2025-10-01 02:55 am
siderea) wrote2025-10-01 02:55 amEntry tags:
- current events,
- guyana,
- patreon,
- us,
- war
The Essequibo (Buddy-ta-na-na, We Are Somebody, Oh): Pt 1 [cur ev, war, Patreon]
Canonical link: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1884180.html
0.
Let us appreciate that the only reason – the only reason – I know about what I am about to share with you is because of that whole music history thing of mine. It's not even my history. My main beat is 16th century dance music (± half a century). But dance music is working music, and as such I consider all the forms of work music to be its counsin, and so I have, of an occasion, wandered into the New England Folk Festival's sea-shanty sing. Many people go through life understanding the world around them through the perspective of a philosophical stance, a religious conviction, a grand explanatory theory, fitting the things they encounter into these frameworks; I do not know if I should be embarrased or not, but for me, so often it's just song cues.
So when I saw the word "Essequibo" go by in the web-equivalent of page six of the international news, I was all like, "Oh! I know that word!" recognizing a song cue when I see one. "It's a river. I wonder where it is?"
And I clicked the link.
That was twenty-one months ago.
Ever since, I have been on a different and ever-increasingly diverging timeline from the one just about everyone else is on.
In December of 2023, Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, tried to kick off World War Three.
He hasn't stopped trying. He's had to take breaks to steal elections and deal with some climate catastrophe and things like that. But mostly ever since – arguably since September of 2023 – Maduro has been escalating.
You wouldn't know it from recent media coverage of what the US is doing off the coast of Venezuela. At no point has any news coverage of the US military deployment to that part of the world mentioned anything about the explosive geopolitical context there. A geopolitical context, that when it has been reported on is referred to in term like "a pressure cooker" and "spiraling".
The US government itself has said nothing that alludes to it in any way. The US government has its story and it's sticking to it: this is about drugs.
As you may be aware, the US government is claiming to have sunk three Venezuelan boats using the US military. The first of these sinkings was on September 1st.
To hear the media tell it, the US just up and decided to start summarily executing people on boats in the Caribbean that it feels were drug-runners on Sep 1st.
No mention is made of what happened on Aug 31st.
On August 31, the day before the first US military attack on a Venezuelan vessel, at around 14:00 local time, somebody opened fire on election officials delivering ballot and ballot boxes in the country Venezuela is threatening to invade.
And they did it from the Venezuelan side of the river that is the border between the two countries.
That country is an American ally. And extremely close American ally. An ally that is of enormous importance to the US.
And which is a thirtieth the size of Venezuela by population, and which has an army less than one twentieth as large.
You would be forgiven for not knowing that Venezuela has been threatening to and apparently also materially preparing to invade another country, because while it's a fact that gets reported in the news, it is never reported in the same news as American actions involving or mentioning Venezuela.
Venezuela, which is a close ally of Russia.
You may have heard about how twenty-one months ago, in December of 2023, there was an election in Venezuela which Maduro claimed was a landslide win for him. There was a lot of coverage in English-speaking news about that election and how it was an obvious fraud, and the candidate who won the opposition party's primary wasn't on the ballot, and so on and so forth.
You probably didn't hear that in that very same election, there was a referendum. If you did hear it reported, you might have encountered it being dismissed in the media as a kind of political stunt of Maduro's, to get people to show up to the polls or to energize his base. It couldn't possibly be (the reasoning went) that he meant it. Surely it was just political theater.
The referendum questions put, on Dec 3, 2023, to the voters of Venezuela were about whether or not they supported establishing a new Venezuelan state.
Inside the borders of the country of Guyana.
2023 Dec 4: The Guardian: "Venezuela referendum result: voters back bid to claim sovereignty over large swath of Guyana".
Why?
Eleven billion gallons of light, sweet crude: the highest quality of oil that commands the highest price.
(I can hear all of Gen X breathe, "Oh of course.")
It is under the floor of the Caribbean in an area known as the Stabroek Block.
The Stabroek Block is off the coast of an area known as the Essequibo.
It takes its name from the Essequibo River, which borders it on one side, and it constitutes approximately two-thirds of the land area of the country of Guyana.
Whoever owns the Essequibo owns the Stabroek Block and whoever owns the Stabroek owns those 11B gallons of easily-accessed, high-value oil.
As far as almost everyone outside of Venezuela has been concerned, for the last hundred years Guyana has owned the Essequibo.
Venezuela disagrees. ( Read more [5,760 words] )
This post brought to you by the 219 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.
Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!
0.
The Essequibo River is the queen of rivers all!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
The Essequibo River is the queen of rivers all!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
Somebody, oh, Johnny! Somebody, oh!
Buddy-ta-na-na, we are somebody, oh!
– Sea shanty, presumed Guyanese
Let us appreciate that the only reason – the only reason – I know about what I am about to share with you is because of that whole music history thing of mine. It's not even my history. My main beat is 16th century dance music (± half a century). But dance music is working music, and as such I consider all the forms of work music to be its counsin, and so I have, of an occasion, wandered into the New England Folk Festival's sea-shanty sing. Many people go through life understanding the world around them through the perspective of a philosophical stance, a religious conviction, a grand explanatory theory, fitting the things they encounter into these frameworks; I do not know if I should be embarrased or not, but for me, so often it's just song cues.
So when I saw the word "Essequibo" go by in the web-equivalent of page six of the international news, I was all like, "Oh! I know that word!" recognizing a song cue when I see one. "It's a river. I wonder where it is?"
And I clicked the link.
That was twenty-one months ago.
Ever since, I have been on a different and ever-increasingly diverging timeline from the one just about everyone else is on.
In December of 2023, Nicolas Maduro, president of Venezuela, tried to kick off World War Three.
He hasn't stopped trying. He's had to take breaks to steal elections and deal with some climate catastrophe and things like that. But mostly ever since – arguably since September of 2023 – Maduro has been escalating.
You wouldn't know it from recent media coverage of what the US is doing off the coast of Venezuela. At no point has any news coverage of the US military deployment to that part of the world mentioned anything about the explosive geopolitical context there. A geopolitical context, that when it has been reported on is referred to in term like "a pressure cooker" and "spiraling".
The US government itself has said nothing that alludes to it in any way. The US government has its story and it's sticking to it: this is about drugs.
As you may be aware, the US government is claiming to have sunk three Venezuelan boats using the US military. The first of these sinkings was on September 1st.
To hear the media tell it, the US just up and decided to start summarily executing people on boats in the Caribbean that it feels were drug-runners on Sep 1st.
No mention is made of what happened on Aug 31st.
On August 31, the day before the first US military attack on a Venezuelan vessel, at around 14:00 local time, somebody opened fire on election officials delivering ballot and ballot boxes in the country Venezuela is threatening to invade.
And they did it from the Venezuelan side of the river that is the border between the two countries.
That country is an American ally. And extremely close American ally. An ally that is of enormous importance to the US.
And which is a thirtieth the size of Venezuela by population, and which has an army less than one twentieth as large.
You would be forgiven for not knowing that Venezuela has been threatening to and apparently also materially preparing to invade another country, because while it's a fact that gets reported in the news, it is never reported in the same news as American actions involving or mentioning Venezuela.
Venezuela, which is a close ally of Russia.
You may have heard about how twenty-one months ago, in December of 2023, there was an election in Venezuela which Maduro claimed was a landslide win for him. There was a lot of coverage in English-speaking news about that election and how it was an obvious fraud, and the candidate who won the opposition party's primary wasn't on the ballot, and so on and so forth.
You probably didn't hear that in that very same election, there was a referendum. If you did hear it reported, you might have encountered it being dismissed in the media as a kind of political stunt of Maduro's, to get people to show up to the polls or to energize his base. It couldn't possibly be (the reasoning went) that he meant it. Surely it was just political theater.
The referendum questions put, on Dec 3, 2023, to the voters of Venezuela were about whether or not they supported establishing a new Venezuelan state.
Inside the borders of the country of Guyana.
2023 Dec 4: The Guardian: "Venezuela referendum result: voters back bid to claim sovereignty over large swath of Guyana".
Why?
Eleven billion gallons of light, sweet crude: the highest quality of oil that commands the highest price.
(I can hear all of Gen X breathe, "Oh of course.")
It is under the floor of the Caribbean in an area known as the Stabroek Block.
The Stabroek Block is off the coast of an area known as the Essequibo.
It takes its name from the Essequibo River, which borders it on one side, and it constitutes approximately two-thirds of the land area of the country of Guyana.
Whoever owns the Essequibo owns the Stabroek Block and whoever owns the Stabroek owns those 11B gallons of easily-accessed, high-value oil.
Image from BBC, originally in "Essequibo: Venezuela moves to claim Guyana-controlled region", 2023 Dec 6
As far as almost everyone outside of Venezuela has been concerned, for the last hundred years Guyana has owned the Essequibo.
Venezuela disagrees. ( Read more [5,760 words] )
This post brought to you by the 219 readers who funded my writing it – thank you all so much! You can see who they are at my Patreon page. If you're not one of them, and would be willing to chip in so I can write more things like this, please do so there.
Please leave comments on the Comment Catcher comment, instead of the main body of the post – unless you are commenting to get a copy of the post sent to you in email through the notification system, then go ahead and comment on it directly. Thanks!
ysabetwordsmith (ysabetwordsmith) wrote in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png)
dw_community_promo2025-10-01 01:46 am
ysabetwordsmith) wrote in dw_community_promo2025-10-01 01:46 am
Birdfeeding
birdfeeding is a community started on January 1, 2023. It's all about birdfeeding, birdwatching, and other topics relating to birds. It also touches on nature in general, and observations that may effect bird activity such as local weather. Both text and image posts are welcome.Community resources include posts about birding events, nurseries that sell seeds or plants attractive to birds, bird identification apps, the benefits of birdwatching, and other useful materials. Check out the anchor posts from Three Weeks for Dreamwidth.
Recent posts:
Holiday Activities
Climate Change
September Garden Tasks
Fluxblog (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
fluxblog_feed) wrote2025-10-01 12:45 am
fluxblog_feed) wrote2025-10-01 12:45 amClosing Time Never Comes
Neko Case “Destination”
I’ve been listening to Neko Case’s voice for a very long time now, and though her singing is very familiar and comforting, I feel like there’s something about her I never fully understand. This quality makes her more compelling, like she’s always several steps ahead of you and giving you cryptic clues you’ve got to figure out if you’re ever going to catch up with her. But the root of it is the implication that she knows things, that her perceptions go far beyond what most of us see, hear, or feel. This suits the songs she sings that are written by Carl Newman, whose words often approach complicated feelings from odd angles and with opaque language, and it’s even better for the lyrics she writes herself, which overflow descriptive details and nuanced observations.
“Destination” sounds to me like the culmination of years of Case’s music – a character study so vivid that the lyrics are like a photorealistic illustration rendered in dense crosshatching; a melody that undersells its melancholy so the sadness in the song creeps up on you; an arrangement that approaches the grandeur of some of the music she’s made with The New Pornographers but in a far more relaxed and resigned way. It’s stunning and ambitious work from a veteran artist, but also remarkably casual in its feel.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Sloan “Congratulations”
A little over 30 years ago Jay Ferguson wrote “I Hate My Generation,” a song about feeling awkward about where he landed in history as a Gen Xer and questioning how much he had in common with the rest of his cohort. The title sounds harsh, but his words were totally ambivalent. Flash forward to “Congratulations,” one of his songs from Sloan’s 14th album Based on the Best Seller, and he sounds like he’s become more comfortable with the notion of generations, or at least very sympathetic to the people coming up now:
“Congratulations are in order for someone who can draw a line to the generation waiting at the door impatiently for some to pass through.”
That line may look like a mouthful, but Ferguson’s melody is characteristically elegant and easygoing. From there, Ferguson ponders how successive generations of artists end up competing for anyone’s attention. There’s no real answer to the question, and no side taken. I just get the sense that he’s tickled by the conundrum, and hoping everyone gets some moments to shine.
Buy it from Bandcamp.
Garbage “Chinese Fire Horse”
Shirley Manson seethes with righteous indignation through “Chinese Fire Horse,” absolutely galled by the notion that her time is over, that’s she too old, and should retire. As well she should be! It’s cool to hear someone, especially a woman, push back this hard on ageism in music culture. Sure, maybe you reach a point where people start treating you like a living legend, and I’m sure that’s nice. But Manson isn’t looking for that kind of satisfaction – she’s still here, she’s still writing, she’s still as vicious and intense and charismatic as she’s ever been. And it’s not enough that she’s saying something interesting and true – this song is a bop, and it’s on par with Garbage’s best material. There’s no delusion here, she’s still got it.
Buy it from Amazon.
Case (case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-09-30 06:04 pm
case) wrote in fandomsecrets2025-09-30 06:04 pm[ SECRET POST #6843 ]
⌈ Secret Post #6843 ⌋
Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.
01.
( More! )
Notes:
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 25 secrets from Secret Submission Post #977.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
the cosmolinguist (cosmolinguist) wrote2025-09-30 10:44 pm
cosmolinguist) wrote2025-09-30 10:44 pmLittle suns
It occurred to me the other day that since the SAD-fighting daylight lamp I have is pretty old now, it still has a big light bulb in it that gets really hot even in the short amounts of time it's supposed to be used. And I'm not as poor as I used to be so I could get a new one.
As always when I need to purchase anything, I asked V for help because they're very good at this. They suggested I might want to try one of those sunrise alarm clocks too. Which I'd never thought about because I'm not really an alarm kind of person a lot of the time, thanks to sleep-maintenance insomnia. But when they sent me a link to what they found and I saw it does a "sunset" thing where you can have gradually-diminishing light and sounds to put on at bedtime, I thought that might be worth a try. I've had increasing trouble settling down to sleep in recent months, and I don't love the workarounds I've resorted to.
Both arrived today, so I write this with orangey light and nature sounds next to me, and the daylight lamp set up by my desk downstairs waiting for me in the morning. We'll see how they work.
rachelmanija (rachelmanija) wrote2025-10-01 06:44 am
rachelmanija) wrote2025-10-01 06:44 amEntry tags:
The Bewitching & Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Three timelines intertwine, connected by witches and women. A grad student in Massachusetts in the 1990s, whose grandmother had a run-in with a witch in the early 1900s in Mexico, researches the mysterious disappearance of a promising woman horror writer in the 1930s.
It's a very nicely constructed, gripping, enjoyable novel of good and evil magic, and women's persistence in the face of what seem to be impossible odds.
Content notes: Cat death.
What it says on the tin: a very gothic-y gothic, set in Mexico. Noemi is a bit of a shallow, selfish debutante in 1950s Mexico. But when she realizes that her cousin who married a wealthy older man may be in trouble in their lavish home in rural Mexico, Noemi sets out to rescue her. She promptly encounters every gothic trope ever, plus a really fun twist on the haunted house/ghost story.
It turns out that being a mean girl debutante used to getting her own way is exactly what's needed to survive this story. I had no end of fun with Noemi bluntly calling out the rule about no talking at dinner, demanding to know exactly what medical treatment her cousin was getting, and generally running roughshod over the creepy atmosphere. A very enjoyable book that I read in a single sitting.
kaberett (kaberett) wrote2025-09-30 10:05 pm
kaberett) wrote2025-09-30 10:05 pmEntry tags:
... oh no I was previously unaware of bay liqueur
And then today's cookbook browsing introduced me to the concept of allorino! But the internet can't agree on whether it should be made with bay leaves, bay flowers, or bay berries. So clearly the correct solution here is Some Of Each, right.
(I am also contemplating whether I want to add finely chopped fresh bay to the quince buckwheat upside-down cake that is high on my priority list for things to cook over the next few days, given how much I love the Ottolenghi lemon & bay cake...)
Meanwhile, my other recreational reading today introduced me to the concept of the "Brompton Cocktail".
( End-of-life care circa the 1980s, with specific reference to terminal cancer. )
Whatever (scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 07:33 pm
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 07:33 pmBrunching It Up At Alcove by MadTree Brewing
Cincinnati is home to many breweries, and two of the most well-known are Rhinegeist and MadTree Brewing. I don’t drink beer, so I’ve never made it a point to visit any of these famed breweries. I always figured there was somewhere more in my wheelhouse to check out.
Two weeks ago, two of my friends from Wisconsin were coming to Cincinnati for a concert. Though it was a short trip for them, they had just enough time before they left to have brunch with me. While I definitely know a place or two for dinner and drinks in Cincy, I am much less versed in the ways of Cincy brunch locations. So, I had to ask one of my Cincy resident friends for a brunch recommendation, and she pointed me in the direction of Alcove.
I had never heard of Alcove before, and I never realized MadTree even had a restaurant at all. When I looked it up, I was immediately enticed by the well-lit, wide-open space, warm tones from all the wood furniture and flooring, and the wild amount of plants they had occupying the space. I loved the look of it, and after checking out their brunch menu, I was sold, and made us reservations.
Alcove is open every day of the week for lunch and dinner, as well as having their full brunch available from 10-3 on Saturday and Sunday. During the weekdays they still have their brunch but with a limited menu instead of the full version. Apparently this is a more recent change!
When my friends and I arrived, we were asked if we wanted to be seated in the main area, the patio, or the greenhouse. We were all intrigued by the sound of the greenhouse, so we picked that and were led to a room just off the main area that had floor-to-ceiling windows, vibrantly colored velvet furniture, even more plants, and its own bar. It was a really pretty space and we were glad we chose it.
After perusing the menu, we decided the best thing to start off with would be some of their spiked coffee options for a bit of a boozy brunch moment.
I opted the for the espresso martini, which consisted of vanilla vodka, cold brew, hazelnut liqueur, vanilla simple, cocoa bitters, and came with a brûléed top. My friend Austin got their spiked coffee which comes with vanilla, amaretto, salted maple cream, and your choice of spirit. He went with bourbon, specifically Buffalo Trace (which was an upcharge). Mattea started off with an iced coffee which is what you see in the photo, but then later tried their Double Dirty Chai which is just vanilla infused bourbon, chai, espresso, and your choice of milk. I didn’t get a photo of that one but she was kind enough to let me try it and I thought it was quite good even though I don’t care for bourbon. Austin’s hot bourbon coffee was definitely too bourbony for me, though. Mattea and I agreed my espresso martini was super yummy.
For something to share, we settled on their charcuterie board. If you aren’t feeling the meat, you can make it just a cheese board for nine dollars cheaper. Here’s what we got:
On the menu the description is basically just “artisan meats and cheeses,” and I kind of thought that when the server brought it out she would tell us what all came on the board, but that didn’t end up happening so my friends and I just placed our bets on what was what. While I did like everything on the board, I do think it was just a little sparse. I would say this is better if it’s just you and one other person, rather than trying to share between three or four people.
For our mains, Mattea and I ordered the exact same thing: the Crispy Tofu and Couscous, as well as the Potato Gnocchi as a side. Austin went for a true brunch classic: Chicken and Waffles.
When our food came, Mattea and I were presented with something definitely different than what we ordered. Before us sat the Crispy Tofu Sandwich. It was a simple mix-up, and we both debated whether or not to say something or just eat the sandwich. Finally, we mustered the courage to say something, and our server let us keep the sandwiches on the house and brought out our correct item soon after. Hooray for free sandwiches!
Here was our Crispy Tofu and Couscous with broccolini, sun dried tomatoes, and red pepper puree:
All of the red pepper puree is at the bottom, so you can just barely see it in the photo, but once I got everything all mixed together it was a lot more evenly distributed over the couscous and whatnot. I didn’t get a picture of the gnocchi, but it came with a roasted garlic cream sauce, sun-dried tomatoes, and asparagus. The gnocchi was really good, I ended up eating way more of that than my main dish, and had to get a box because I tore up my gnocchi.
And here was the chicken and waffles:
(Austin added an over-easy egg on top.)
We took this opportunity to order another round of drinks. Austin picked the mimosa flight, which came with orange juice, peach juice, cranberry juice, and pineapple juice.
Austin, Mattea, and I all agreed on a ranking of pineapple being the best, then cranberry, then orange, and finally peach.
And I got their Basil Rosé, which was gin, rosé, basil, lime, and simple:
This cocktail was so summery and light, very refreshing and perfectly sweetened.
While we were dining, a photographer came over and asked if he could take some pictures of us enjoying our meal and hanging out. We obliged, and in return he gave us each a ten dollar gift card to use towards our bill. That was so generous! He really did not have to do that, we were totally fine being a part of his photos for free, but that was really cool.
All in all, we really enjoyed our brunch at Alcove by MadTree Brewing. It’s an eclectic, beautiful space right in OTR, with tons of gluten-free and vegetarian options, good drinks, and good service. I definitely want to go back sometime, and I’m happy to now know of a good brunch place in Cincinnati.
After our experience at Alcove, I decided to look up MadTree and see what else I was missing out on. It turns out they have two other locations besides Alcove. They have a taproom over in Oakley, and a location they call “Parks & Rec” up in Blue Ash. All of their locations are open everyday of the week, and their Parks & Rec location even serves brunch all day, everyday!
Both the Oakley Taproom and Parks & Rec are dog-friendly and family-friendly, but the Parks & Rec location appears to really excel in the family-friendly aspect, with indoor and outdoor play areas for kids and recreation for all ages. Their Parks & Rec location is also designed with every type of family in mind, with their Branch Out initiative, which aims towards accessibility and inclusivity for all. You can read more about their efforts on that front here.
Aside from that, I was really interested to learn about MadTree’s commitment to the environment. I learned that they are the only certified B-Corp brewery in Ohio, and belong to a whopping 0.2% of B-Corp breweries overall. They are also a part of 1% For The Planet, 100% of their spent grain goes to feeding livestock, they plant or donate 5,000 trees a year, and even pay their employees for 16 volunteer hours a year. There’s even more to learn about their sustainability efforts and commitment to community if you want to check it out here and here.
Overall, MadTree seems like a super cool company with a lot to offer Cincinnati. I can’t believe I overlooked it before just because I don’t like beer! I would love to check out their other locations, and support them and their efforts towards making Cincinnati a healthier, happier place.
Do you like spiked coffee? Are you a brunch connoisseur? Have you tried MadTree Brewing before, or any of their locations? Let me know in the comments, be sure to check out MadTree Brewing, their Oakley Taproom, Parks & Rec, and Alcove on Instagram, and have a great day!
-AMS
conuly (conuly) wrote2025-09-29 09:52 am
conuly) wrote2025-09-29 09:52 am(no subject)
First, is my cat not the most beautiful cat you've seen in the past few minutes?
( Cut for size )
***************
( Read more... )
( Cut for size )
( Read more... )
oursin (oursin) wrote2025-09-30 07:27 pm
oursin) wrote2025-09-30 07:27 pmEntry tags:
I know that there are a vast array of readers out there, but....
I do feel, Lee Child, that this categorisation is a bit simple:
But I think it’s nuts that people think genre is easier than reaching a very small and reliable audience. Some good, middle-class Julian Barnes or Martin Amis reader, they don’t expect to be 100% satisfied with a book. They put it down and start the next one. When you’re a bestseller, you’ve got to satisfy the person that reads one book a year on the beach. If you leave him disappointed, he may never read another book.
(Quite apart from the weird class thing going on.)
Okay, I read a lot and I very very seldom expect to be 100% satisfied with a book, but the ones that ring the bell are all over the place. I won't say I expect to be satisfied by a book but you know, Middlemarch exists, Tam Lin exists, The Fountain Overflows exists, etc etc, I can always hope.
And what do we mean by being satisfied by a book anyway? I was in Slow Motion Trainwreck Relationship with a person who had some very weird stuff going on about reading and what they would or would not read and somehow being afraid of investing time in reading a book that might not be Right. It was not about satisfaction precisely, it was about having some internal template a book had to match.
Actually I suppose this rather went with making the occasional askance expressions and noises at the kind of things that I was reading, because I may not be entirely indiscriminate in what I read but I do have to be reading something and I will give quite a lot of things A Go.
I also wonder how one fits into the above paradigm people who do read a lot but want the exact same thing with just slight changes, which is also a market that bestsellers aim at, surely?
Also, are there literally people who only read one book a year when they're on holiday (and probably on the plane rather than the beach)?
On another paw (how many have I got up to?) there is Uncle Matthew in The Pursuit of Love who would never read anything (except for Country Life, presumably, if he found the chub-fuddler there) after the transcendant experience that was White Fang.
Whatever (scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 04:58 pm
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 04:58 pmThe Big Idea: Becky Ferreira
For as long as people have been looking up at the stars, there have been thoughts about aliens. Are they humanoid, or completely and utterly different from us? Are they benevolent or world-conquering? Author Becky Ferreira shines some light on the subject in the Big Idea for her newest book, First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession With Aliens. Follow along in her Big Idea to see if they come in peace.
BECKY FERREIRA:
Aliens will always be with us, even if we never find them.
Earth is awash in aliens.
They dominate our popular culture: In 2025 alone, aliens starred in blockbuster films from Superman to Predator: Badlands and streaming favorites from Alien: Earth to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Whenever unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) are captured on film—like the recent firing of a Hellfire missile at a mystery object—aliens are top of mind for millions of people.
Meanwhile, the ancient dream of discovering extraterrestrial life is entering an exciting new phase. This year, potential biosignatures were found on Mars and in the skies of an exoplanet 124 light years from Earth. These are just the latest tantalizing hints that life might exist beyond our world—though none has remotely approached the high bar of an unambiguous alien detection.
I’ve covered the search for alien life as a science reporter for the past 15 years, and also written a great deal about our broader cultural fixation on aliens. In my new book First Contact: The Story of Our Obsession with Aliens—out from Workman Publishing on September 30—I aimed to provide a one-stop primer for all the diverse meanings that aliens hold to people.
The book traces the origins of our hunch that we are not alone in the universe deep into prehistory. It chronicles the massive pop culture footprint of aliens, and the thriving subcultures that believe they already walk among us. It spotlights the ingenious ways that humans have learned to search for life—from the shiny beryllium mirrors of space telescopes, to the dusty wheels of Martian rovers, to the algorithms that comb through sky surveys looking for any sign of intelligent beings out in the dark. It imagines what might happen if we one day confirm our ancient suspicion that “others” exist—and what it would mean if we really are alone.
First Contact was a joy to write, but it wasn’t an easy ride. I set out to cram as much pertinent material about aliens into the pages as possible, while keeping it short enough to be read in an afternoon sitting. I read dozens of books and countless studies, but there is simply no way to ever adequately keep pace with a topic that has inspired such immense creativity and diverse interpretation. I’m happy with how the book turned out; now I just need to churn out another 700 volumes.
The development of this book also coincided with some major life changes. I got to work on it as my son was rapidly morphing from a baby into a toddler with big opinions (and emotions to match). As I pondered how humans might communicate with an advanced alien species, I was often simultaneously trying to decipher the expressions of a tiny wild person—to interpret his gestures and muddled sentences, to make him laugh, to console him, to share his wonder.
During the writing process, I was also rebuilding my freelance reporting career from scratch after a decade on staff at a media company that flamboyantly self-destructed (many such cases). Fortunately, I have now found my footing, which I don’t take for granted. Still, this stressful and tiring experience often inspires daydreams about slipping into a Rip-Van-Winkle slumber that takes me straight through to 2050 when I wake up feeling refreshed at last.
That said, aliens turned out to be great company throughout all the trials and tribulations. They were with me during the midnights I spent coaxing the kid back to sleep; the 3am writing sessions in the serene pre-dawn dark; the hammocked summer afternoons reading the latest extraterrestrial saga; and evenings revisiting classic films about the moment we finally make contact with something—someone—beyond our home world.
The story of our obsession with aliens is ancient, but I truly believe it has never been more engrossing. We may be on the cusp of finally resolving this most elusive question, or we may face a future alone in a silent universe.
Regardless of the outcome, I hope that First Contact will be a reminder that the search for extraterrestrial life is a human odyssey, an heirloom passed down by our stargazing ancestors marked with the fingerprints of each successive generation that has inherited it. It is an effort that looks to the sky for alien life, sure, but it also embodies the cherished homegrown values that I am trying to instill in my own young Earthling: curiosity, imagination, resourcefulness, and appreciation for a cosmos that is awesome in every sense of the word, no matter who else might be sharing it with us.
FIRST CONTACT: The Story of Our Obsession With Aliens: Hachette|Amazon|Barnes & Noble|Powell’s
Author socials: Website|Newsletter|X|Instagram|Bluesky
Ysabet (umadoshi) wrote2025-09-30 11:03 am
umadoshi) wrote2025-09-30 11:03 am
Entry tags:
Various media-(mostly book-)related things
Silver and Lead, the newest October Daye book (and the first one published by Tor) is out today!
The ebook came to about $25, and I just bought it, but OUCH. Just. Ouch. Since the Toby books started getting initially published as hardcovers, I've been buying the ebooks initially and then getting paperbacks later, but this might keep me from rebuying in hard copy going forward. >.< We'll see.
I expect I'll start reading Toby today (it's a day off), but up to this point, for the last week or so I haven't been trying to get my brain to engage with a new story of any kind, what with the work crunch. I've mostly stuck to watching things withscruloose when there's been a chance. We're caught up on The Summer Hikaru Died (and I think the most recent episode might've been the season finale? Anyone know offhand?) and made more of a dent into season 1 of Silo.
Other than that, I watched a couple episodes of Leverage on Friday (late season 4, and finally into the chunk of episodes I know I haven't seen; I think from here on the only ep. of the original show I've previously seen is the series finale) and I've been sifting through cookbooks.
C&Ped from elsenet, posted yesterday:
After months of not getting around to it, I just ordered a heap of danmei (and one manga volume) from the Beguiling in Toronto (a fantastic comic store to begin with, and I appreciate them enough now for maintaining a masking policy that I'd rather order from them even though free shipping requires a $300+ order).
I always enjoy seeing (and envy) people's danmei shelves, but nearly all of my danmei is in ebooks a) to save both money and shelf space and b) because I'm much better at actually reading things that way. But the Rosmei danmei doesn't have that option, and they licensed some priest titles, so hard copies it is!
[Yesterday's] order: Coins of Destiny 1, The Defectives 1, Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire 1-2, Global Examination 1, Kaleidoscope of Death 1-2, Silent Reading (Mo Du) 1 special edition (one of my hard copy exceptions from 7S), and Kaze Hikaru 33.
The ebook came to about $25, and I just bought it, but OUCH. Just. Ouch. Since the Toby books started getting initially published as hardcovers, I've been buying the ebooks initially and then getting paperbacks later, but this might keep me from rebuying in hard copy going forward. >.< We'll see.
I expect I'll start reading Toby today (it's a day off), but up to this point, for the last week or so I haven't been trying to get my brain to engage with a new story of any kind, what with the work crunch. I've mostly stuck to watching things with
scruloose when there's been a chance. We're caught up on The Summer Hikaru Died (and I think the most recent episode might've been the season finale? Anyone know offhand?) and made more of a dent into season 1 of Silo.Other than that, I watched a couple episodes of Leverage on Friday (late season 4, and finally into the chunk of episodes I know I haven't seen; I think from here on the only ep. of the original show I've previously seen is the series finale) and I've been sifting through cookbooks.
C&Ped from elsenet, posted yesterday:
After months of not getting around to it, I just ordered a heap of danmei (and one manga volume) from the Beguiling in Toronto (a fantastic comic store to begin with, and I appreciate them enough now for maintaining a masking policy that I'd rather order from them even though free shipping requires a $300+ order).
I always enjoy seeing (and envy) people's danmei shelves, but nearly all of my danmei is in ebooks a) to save both money and shelf space and b) because I'm much better at actually reading things that way. But the Rosmei danmei doesn't have that option, and they licensed some priest titles, so hard copies it is!
[Yesterday's] order: Coins of Destiny 1, The Defectives 1, Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire 1-2, Global Examination 1, Kaleidoscope of Death 1-2, Silent Reading (Mo Du) 1 special edition (one of my hard copy exceptions from 7S), and Kaze Hikaru 33.
Whatever (scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 01:06 pm
scalziwhatever_feed) wrote2025-09-30 01:06 pmOn Blurb Hiatus Through the Rest of 2025
I have a lot of writing and other professional and personal projects to do before the end of the year, and a fair bit of travel in there as well, so I’m going to go ahead and call it: I’m on a blurb hiatus through the end of the year. I have several books already on my “TBR” list with respect to blurbing, and can’t responsibly add any more for the rest of 2025. I post this notice so that when I inform editors/publishers/publicists that I can’t consider blurbing a book for them, they know it isn’t about their book or author in particular. The problem here is me, and my very busy fourth quarter schedule, and my admittedly lackadaisical organizational skills.
If you have a 2026 book you’re interested in having me blurb, please wait until January to query me about it, at that point I will have turned in my novel and slept through most of December and will be ready to consider such stuff. Until then, however, I’m afraid the answer to blurb requests is “not now.” Thank you for understanding.
— JS
moonvoice (moonvoice) wrote2025-09-30 09:20 pm
moonvoice) wrote2025-09-30 09:20 pmI mean to say a mix of things about Hades II and then mostly ranted so like, uh, skip that maybe x.x
I've reached the point in Hades II where I'm very bad at everything even with Godmode at max (this game is actually not accesible at all, though it Tried, it's both harder than the first Hades, and less forgiving, and the Godmode is like...ehhhh. On the one hand I get that like, it's very cool for people to get very hard achievements when a game is very challenging, and on the other hand, for those of us who have pretty big motor dysfunction etc. who want the game to be accessible, the game is like phenomenally hard even with their 'accessibility' options, and that's frustrating.
I don't want to have to use mods, mostly because they can be finicky and sometimes break saves etc., but I honestly can't see some ways forward through the game without them. Massive props to the people who can play without Godmode in a game that is so much harder. I consider myself lucky that I can beat the vanilla game, but everything else (Chaos challenges, etc.) is like...welp. We'll see. Some are fine, some are not. ( spoilers, and rather more ranting than I expected )
Okay, I'm done.
I don't want to have to use mods, mostly because they can be finicky and sometimes break saves etc., but I honestly can't see some ways forward through the game without them. Massive props to the people who can play without Godmode in a game that is so much harder. I consider myself lucky that I can beat the vanilla game, but everything else (Chaos challenges, etc.) is like...welp. We'll see. Some are fine, some are not. ( spoilers, and rather more ranting than I expected )
Okay, I'm done.
Linaewen (linaewen) wrote in writethisfanfic2025-09-30 06:32 am
linaewen) wrote in writethisfanfic2025-09-30 06:32 amEntry tags:
WIP Challenge Check-in, Day 30 -- Tuesday
Hello on Tuesday! How are things going in the world of fic?
Did you write?
- Yes!
- No!
- Not yet!
If yes, what kind of writerly activity did you engage in? How do you feel about it?
If no, what were the obstacles/situations that affected your writerly pursuits? What will you do differently tomorrow to get more writing done?
If not yet, because the day hasn't gotten going yet, what kind of writing activity are you planning (or hoping) to accomplish?
Dan Savage (savagelove_feed) wrote2025-09-30 11:00 am
savagelove_feed) wrote2025-09-30 11:00 amQuickies
1. How’s anal with someone with pearls in their dick? I’m getting some installed soon. You’re referring to pearling, a body modification where small pearl-like beads are inserted under the skin of the penis. Post-pearling, your cock — to the untrained eye (read: most eyes) — is gonna look like it’s covered in cysts that … Read More »
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Dan Savage (savagelove_feed) wrote2025-09-30 11:00 am
savagelove_feed) wrote2025-09-30 11:00 amWhen Fear Turns You On
How can a woman safely indulge her kink when the thing that turns her on is fear? A man is convinced that his bidet use makes him pee more. Our long suffering, patient and kind medical expert, Doc Barak is back to sigh heavily and pretend to take the question seriously. Also, can we trust … Read More »
The post When Fear Turns You On appeared first on Dan Savage.