Reading

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Early Humans

Discovery shows early humans were much more advanced hunters than previously believed

On stone arrowheads left in a South African rock shelter, researchers found 60,000-year-old traces of plant poison.

A team working in Sweden and South Africa analyzed quartz tips from Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

A residue on one artifact can be a fluke, but repeats on older and newer arrowheads are harder to dismiss.

*laugh* Hominids helped wipe out 98% of land animal body mass. What did scientists think, all they were doing was running up and stabbing megafauna until it dropped dead? Yeah, no. Arrow poison. Channel traps, pit traps, cliff traps. Fire. Collecting scat to frame one predator for encroaching on another predator's territory, then watching them shred each other and sneaking up to dispatch the weakened loser.

"Work smarter, not harder" has been the hominid strategy for millions of years.

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snowflake challenge

Snowflake Challenge

... is scheduled to appear at 4PM Eastern time, which is 3PM Central time -- so 10-15 minutes from now. It's a planned variation, no need to worry.

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Space Exploration

This strange form of water may power giant planets’ magnetic fields

Water pushed to planetary extremes turns into an exotic, electricity-conducting solid — and it’s far stranger than scientists ever imagined.

At extreme pressures and temperatures, water becomes superionic — a solid that behaves partly like a liquid and conducts electricity. This unusual form is believed to shape the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune and may be the most common type of water in the solar system. New high-precision experiments show its atomic structure is far messier than expected, combining multiple crystal patterns instead of one clean arrangement. The finding reshapes models of icy planets both near and far.

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a pair of cardinals and a starling. I heard a woodpecker but didn't see it.

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

Current Mood: busy

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Artificial Intelligence

Researchers poison stolen data to make AI systems return wrong results

Researchers affiliated with universities in China and Singapore have devised a technique to make stolen knowledge graph data useless if incorporated into a GraphRAG AI system without consent.

I'm reminded of how alchemists would leave out a critical detail, or make a substitution, so that nobody could steal and reproduce their work.

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Communities

pluralquestions -- Discussing plural existence

Welcome to the Plural Questions community! A lot of existing plural communities on Dreamwidth are inactive. We all have a lot to gain from talking to each other, so Plural Questions was created to encourage community discussion around plural experiences. Interactions are encouraged- please comment, post to the community, etc! Get your voice out there! Discussion questions will be posted every now and then, but please feel free to add your own questions or post about your lived experiences.

If you've been following

lb_lee and

pluralstories then you might like this new community.

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Magpie Monday

dialecticdreamer is hosting Magpie Monday today with a theme of "Loose Threads." Leave prompts, get ficlets!

( Read more... )

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Poem: Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan 1-10-26

These poems are spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. They were inspired and sponsored by Anthony Barrette. They also fill the "Up the River" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. These poems are the first batch in the collection Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan.

( Read more... )

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Poem: "Fight Less, Cuddle More"

This poem is spillover from the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by

janetmiles. It also fills the "Soup to Nuts" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the Big One and Mercedes threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

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Poem: "Hemma Bäst"

This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

nsfwords and

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Cup of Coffee" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Hart's Farm.

( Read more... )

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Poem: "Cakes and Ale"

This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from

fuzzyred and

nsfwords. It also fills the "Cakes and Ale" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Fiorenza the Wisewoman.

( Read more... )

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Poem: "Decreases"

This poem came out of the January 6, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

fuzzyred. It also fills the "Chasing Rainbows" square in my 1-1-26 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

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Economics

Christmas Cookie Inflation Index, 2025 Update

Cheaper sugar came at the cost of lower wages, fewer choices, and a community with less say over its own economic life. That tradeoff may not show up in national statistics, but it shows up clearly in places like mine.

In my locale, we lost JoAnn Fabrics, as everywhere did, making it much harder to do things like make your own if a needed item wasn't for sale commercially. We lost Big Lots, as most places did, which was the biggest and most diverse bargain store. We gained Michael's, which sells less craft supplies than JoAnn at much higher prices; Beal's and Five Below, which sell less bargain goods than Big Lots at similar prices. Two nearby towns got Ollie's, which is a big and excellent bargain store, but farther away and not quite the same stock as Big Lots. So yes, the economy is quietly collapsing toward a simpler state. That makes it much harder for people to adapt to pressures, because it's harder to find supplies -- especially things like fabric that aren't well suited to shopping online. :/

Current Mood: busy

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and chilly.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 1/12/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 1/12/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 1/12/26 -- We finished a hardware project.

EDIT 1/12/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

Pretty sunset tonight, pink and peach and lavender. :D

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

Current Mood: busy

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Call for Themes

We've reached the end of scheduled themes for the Poetry Fishbowl project. It's time to brainstorm some new themes! These are a few that I've jotted down earlier, ones that I've thought up or people have suggested, to give you an idea what kind of stuff might be suitable:

* Activism and Collective Action
* Arts and Crafts
* Doomsday
* Escape
* Festivals and Faires
* Give Me a Reason
* Immigrants and Refugees
* Magical Girls
* Mermaids
* Peacework
* People of Color
* Plants and Flowers
* QUILTBAG
* Unicorns
* Unique Titles
* Veterans
* Whump
* Worldbuilding

What other themes would you like to see me write about? What would you like to buy? Suggest them in a comment below this post.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: awake

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prompt call

January 2026 Magpie Monday

Welcome to the first Magpie Monday prompt call of 2026!

Today, I’m taking up the loose threads of stories that needed more development, a next step, or to highlight an element that the reader simply enjoyed so much that they want more.
( Read more... )

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Diversity

Mattel adds an autistic Barbie to doll line

NEW YORK -- Mattel Inc. is introducing an autistic Barbie on Monday as the newest member of its line intended to celebrate diversity, joining a collection that already includes Barbies with Down syndrome, a blind Barbie, a Barbie and a Ken with vitiligo, and other models the toymaker added to make its fashion dolls more inclusive.
[---8<---]
For example, the eyes of the new Barbie shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimes avoid direct eye contact, he said. The doll also was given articulated elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming, hand flapping and other gestures that some autistic people use to process sensory information or to express excitement, according to Mattel.

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blogging,
personal

Monday Update 1-12-26

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Five Books of Woodslore"
Today's Cooking
Science
Birdfeeding
Photos: Contorta Willow
Birdfeeding
Fossils
Science
Webring: Adult Artists
Poem: "The Far Call"
Philosophical Questions: Success
My Fandom How To Posts
How to Choose a Starting Point for Your Story
New Year's Resolutions Check In
Birdfeeding
How to Post Frequently on Dreamwidth
Follow Friday 1-9-26: Led Zeppelin
Poem: "The Two Cottages"
Community Thursdays
Birdfeeding
New Poems
Shopping
Birdfeeding
Hard Things

Animal Communication has 25 comments. Food has 52 comments. Trauma has 48 comments. Affordable Housing has 83 comments. Robotics has 124 comments.

( Read more... )

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Poem: "The Five Books of Woodslore"

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It fills the "In the Wilderness" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. It was sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred.

( Read more... )

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#56 Breaking Bread and Breaking an Impasse part 2 of 1, complete)

Breaking Bread and Breaking an Impasse
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1061
[Monday, May 11, 2020, late afternoon]

:: The Teagues’ preparation for a dinner guest is interrupted. Part of the Edison’s Mirror universe. ::

Conversation lagged for several minutes.

Garegin shivered, swallowed, and turned to Aidan. Curiosity slowly brightened the depths of his walnut-brown eyes. “What were you talking about, something with onions, earlier?”

Aidan nodded, accepting the distraction. “There is an enormous supply of onions at the food bank because a shipment was made in error, and they are taking up so much room that other goods cannot be stored. I mentioned making pickled onions, which I can do if I have the large crocks. The vinegar would have to be purchased as I don’t have a month to make it from scratch, which is disappointing.”

The younger man leaned into the idea as if it were a life raft on a stormy sea. “Have you ever used canning jars?”
( Read more... )