Network

Warming The Public Up

Rendlesham Forest is the British Roswell. In 1980 a thing that might have been a UFO showed up in the woods outside an American base in Suffolk. Several US servicemen got a good look at it, and even touched it . If you know about these things you know about Rendlesham. It's a well attested, thoughly investigated case- and the evidence goes way beyond hearsay.

The Guardian just published a long article about it. Better late than never!

But it's curious that the sceptic's paper of choice should be giving space to something so paradigm-busting. Did word come down from somewhere higher up that now's the time to warm the public up for further revelations?

Because there are rumblings- and some evidence- that governments are gearing up for "disclosure". The US govenment apparently has a website- currently empty- ready and waiting to be filled with content. Stephen Spielberg has a movie called Disclosure due for release this summer. The President hs been dropping hints.....

Current Mood: calm

Entry tags:

books,
read26

2026/065: Renaissance — E H Lupton

2026/065: Renaissance — E H Lupton

“Ulysses?”
When he looked back, Eli said, carefully, “It’s pull the lever, not throw yourself in front of the trolley to save everyone.”
Ulysses exhaled. “It’s a thought experiment, Doc...” [loc. 3320]

Fifth in the 'Wisconsin Gothic' series which began with Dionysus in Wisconsin: in this instalment, Sam and Ulysses are planning a quiet summer, until ( Read more... )

Entry tags:

tv:babylon 5

Crusade mk 2

If anyone wants to read me ranting extensively about the Crusade episode "Visitors From Down the Street" you can read it at Tumblr here. (Or Tumblr logged-in link.) Feel free to disagree in comments, I'm fine with that but GOD I hated this episode so much.

The Friday Five for 1 May 2026

These questions were written by

pebbleinalake.

1. Do you like to spend time outdoors?

2. What is your favorite flower?

3. Any favorite warm weather activities?

4. Have you ever kept a garden? If so, what did you grow?

5. Do you know how to swim?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

**Remember that we rely on you, our members, to help keep the community going. Also, please remember to play nice. We are all here to answer the questions and have fun each week. We repost the questions exactly as the original posters submitted them and request that all questions be checked for spelling and grammatical errors before they're submitted. Comments re: the spelling and grammatical nature of the questions are not necessary. Honestly, any hostile, rude, petty, or unnecessary comments need not be posted, either.**

Entry tags:

Daily Happiness

1. So, I've talked before about our horrible stove and how hard it is to clean. Also only two of the four burners work. But it's a built-in, so in order to replace it, we'd have to redo the counter, and then if you're redoing the counter, well, the walls and cupboards are also old and pretty gross, so you'd want to do them, too, and then if you're doing the lower cupboards, you'd want to do the flooring as well, as it's also old and gross and coming up from the floor. So it would be a whole kitchen remodel, which would be really stressful for the cats, so we don't want to do that any time soon.

Anyway, we also have a little stand-alone induction burner, but hardly ever use it because there's no counter space. The other day Carla mentioned something about putting a board or something over the stove and just using it as a counter and putting the induction burner there instead, and I thought, well, they must make something like that. So I did some searching and found they do indeed make stove covers, but our stove is not a standard size (we need at least 36" wide), so there's not really anything that's a perfect fit, but I was able to find one that was 30" wide and open on the sides, so it can fit over the stove and just a bit pokes out on each side. It doesn't look as nice as if it were fully covered, but it does the job. Now I just need to get used to using the induction burner as I've pretty much only ever used gas, so that will take some adjustment.

2. I have worked from home all week and was planning to go in tomorrow but decided I really don't want to, so I'm staying home tomorrow, too.

3. Jasper found an exciting new spot! It can only be reached by climbing up on someone who is sitting on the toilet, but he has also recently gotten into the habit of wanting upsies when Carla is on the toilet, so he got his chance lol.

Entry tags:

books,
meme

Book meme from thatjustwontbreak

maevedarcy is posting a meme a day for 3 Weeks 4 Dreamwidth and well, of course I had to.

This week I'm reading: Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple

My favorite book of all time is: I don't really have one. I have favourites for different purposes, like Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy for turning me into, alas, a comedic speculative fiction writer, or Vita Nostra for rewiring my brain, or Moby-Dick for becoming my entire personality for two years, or or or.

My current favorite book (read or re-read in the last 3 months) is: The River Has Roots, Amal El-Mohtar

The last book I bought was: It's on pre-order, but Obstetrix by

naomikritzer .

The first book I bought with my own money was: I honestly have no idea.

The first book I received as a gift was: It would have been a children's book? Maybe The Little Prince or Alice's Adventures In Wonderland or something, both of which I was always pretty obsessed with.

The last book I received as a gift was: Always On by Helena Trooperman

The last book I borrowed from the library was: Grendel by John Gardner

The book physically closest to me right now is: There are no books physically close to me because nearly everything is on ebook. The closest paper book is Wake Up! (Book Winter) by R Merey, because tRaum books are beautiful and I paid a dumb amount to get the pretty edition from Germany.

This or that
Physical book or e-book: e-book. I'm a traitor, I know.
Used or new: Library
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction, but a good non-fiction will engross me
Read at a coffee shop or at the park: Traditionally, a coffee shop, but with covid, park.
Paperback or hardcover: E-book, but if it has to be physical, paperback.
Romance or Crime: Best when combined, not a big fan of either on their own.

Yes or no
Stream of consciousness? Fuck yes
Poetry? Yes
Memoirs? No
Philosophy? Sure
Thrillers? Nah
Chronicles? Nope
Travel logs? Big no
Dialogue heavy? Sure

Current Mood: gloomy
Current Location: surprisingly chilly today actually

Entry tags:

the scientist's methodology applied to art

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Entry tags:

japan 2026

2026 Japan Trip Part 4 (4/6-7)

Monday we had to check out of our hotel in Umeda and go over to Universal Studios, where we would stay another two nights before going to Tokyo.

( Everything except the USJ trips themselves, which will be in separate posts )

Actual things that happened on book tour

Posted by thebloggess

https://thebloggess.com/2026/04/30/actual-things-that-happened-on-book-tour/

https://thebloggess.com/?p=44556

Here is a list of ridiculous things that happened to me on book tour in no particular order, part 1: Realized that my nipples were very obvious only minutes before stepping onto the stage and could think of nothing else so I just immediately apologized for my nipples to the large crowd. Then afterwards severalContinue reading

https://thebloggess.com/2026/04/30/actual-things-that-happened-on-book-tour/

https://thebloggess.com/?p=44556

Current Mood: cheerful

Entry tags:

pic spam,
rome

Roma Eterna

She who travels to the Eternal City and surrounding countryside for a couple of days is obliged to share the pictorial results. :)

( Behold the Mirror of Diana - Nemi )

( Where Popes and Roman Emperors spent their summer vacations )

( Tusculum: Where Cicero shared all the hot gossip with Atticus )

And then I visited Rome itself.

( The City. Its World. )

Entry tags:

clouds,
sunset

Post Storm Sunset

We had some severe storms come through our area this week, and had tornado sirens going off both in the morning and evening. Luckily the first set of storms had a mild tornado farther south of us. The second set had a potential formation going over us but luckily nothing actually came together and we only got a bit of hail.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

tv:babylon 5

Babylon 5: Crusade (4 episodes in, but not in order)

I tried watching the short-lived B5 spinoff Crusade. I have terrible news: I really like it!

It was a good choice on Past Me's part to not jump immediately into the B5 spinoff material. (At this point, I've still only seen "In the Beginning" as far as the movies go.) I think if I'd watched this right after the main show, which is definitely much better, I'd have been disappointed, but now that it's been a year or so, I'm delighted! Every time main show canon gets a shout-out, I bounce a little!

I've seen episodes 1 and 9-11, for reasons I will get into under the cut.

( Four episodes in. )

Anyway, it's a bit sad that this never had a chance to find its feet the way the first season of B5 did. (Also, it certainly makes it clear that as much as B5 got editorially messed around, it could have been so much worse.) I would have liked a couple of seasons of this to watch, but there are still a few more episodes, and I expect I'll enjoy those.

Entry tags:

writing

April Writing and May Plans

In April, I wrote a piece of flash fiction called “Skysail Jack,” about a young vagabond who likes to hitch rides on zeppelins, with occasionally disastrous results. This was not accepted to Flash Fiction Online but may nonetheless spark a flash fiction series with classic adventure story titles like “Skysail Jack and the Flying Dutchmen.”

I’m also continuing very slow work on my fantasy novelette The Paper Bird. I believe I will complete a draft this month! It’s going to be about 15,000 words, which is an awkward length, but I’m just so pleased that I’m going to have a draft, since I started this story 16 years ago at a time when I was starting (and occasionally finishing) many secondary world fantasy stories. They were all terrible, and I couldn’t understand why. I was so faithfully going through those websites of worldbuilding questions! Reading books about crafting imaginary languages! Carefully creating maps and sprawling family trees!

But I believe that at long last, I may be writing a secondary world fantasy story that is actually good. This is partly because I have grown as a person and a writer, and partly because I’ve finally grasped that I need to leave out like 95% of that beautiful worldbuilding.

I am therefore cautiously considering the possibility that I might be able to write about some of the other secondary world characters who have obstinately refused to die despite ~15 years of neglect. In fact, I tried to describe some of these story ideas in this post, but ran up against the fact that they tend to have characters and a setting but not what you might actually call a “story,” which makes it difficult to describe them in a way that might interest other people.

But good news! The Paper Bird also languished for years with characters and a setting but no story, so I just need to replicate the process whereby I gave it a plot. Unfortunately I don’t know quite how I did it, but no worries! I’m sure I can work it out.

Also, I don’t think that most of these potential stories are very marketable in self-pub, with the possible exception of Innis and Jess (prisoner of war and guy who really didn’t want a pet prisoner of war; obviously they fall in love, obviously their cultures have wildly different views on sex/love/romance/etc), but that is a problem for future me. At the moment it’s just nice to be writing again.

Entry tags:

linkage,
music

“i’ve squandered my resistance/ for a pocket full of mumbles, such are promises/ all lies and jests”

A few musical links:

1-hour acid techno mix filmed in a Japanese sake brewery. Top comment: “she’s cooking, they’re cooking too.” The channel @Login.jp_ has more mixes played in various Japanese cultural locations both traditional and everyday-modern. (via)

Jon Batiste re-imagines Für Elise. (via)

The O’Reillys and the Paddyhats play an Irish folk-punk cover of The Boxer. (found after YT sidebar served me an atrocious AI-created Irish ‘folk-song’ version)

---L.

Subject quote from The Boxer, Simon & Garfunkel, for comparison.

Ooof!

Friday, overnight to Saturday at usual house.
Saturday, overnight to Sunday at usual house.
Monday, overnight to Tuesday at new house.
Tuesday, overnight to Wednesday at new house.
Wednesday, run home, get four hours of sleep, run back to work for 4-12 shift, ask N if he can stay late so I can leave early because I'm doing the overnight at the new house. Thank goodness the bus gets me right there.

That's seven shifts. Today I sleep, and tomorrow night I do it again because I do actually need cash this week and next.

(This other house has a cleaning checklist for the overnight shift. The manager assured me that it's not really intended to be all done each night except the laundry. Good to know, because I did none of it last night. All of it the night before, none of it this night so I could be more awake and focused for the morning part of the shift, the part that involves dealing with the people.)

Incidentally, anybody who tells you that working with intellectually disabled adults is super rewarding or inspiring is just lying. It's mostly laundry, and there's just nothing inspiring about laundry.

It's a necessary job, and I like helping people, but during the work part of work? Mostly I'm doing their laundry. Sometimes making their beds, or helping them shower, or making lunches.

Current Mood: enthralled
Current Location: on the train

Entry tags:

The Testaments 1.06

Blessed be! The Aunt Lydia narrated episode has arrived!

( Spoilers don’t know whether they’re a phoenix or a cockroach… )

Late April

The wind has been blowing hard for days, but because it's coming from the north and hitting the front of the house bang on (with much moaning and sighing) the back of the house is sheltered and we can keep the bedoom window open at night without the blind rattling or the curtains billowing. It's an odd effect.

We want the window open because, in spite of the wind, the days have been sunny and the nights warm.

We are passing through the magical short time of the year when the blossom is out and the leaves on the trees are still small and vividly green. It won't last much longer. Already the garden is looking lush.....

Mental health and violence

I am resisting the temptation to get into an argument on the book of face, and instead coming here to observe that it irks me when people say things like, "You shouldn't blame violent behaviour on people's mental illness. Mentally ill people are more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrator." As though it's not possible for the same factor to increase both vulnerability to and propensity to commit violence. The overwhelming majority of the violence that I've been on the receiving end of occurred whilst I was in psychiatric hospitals, surrounded by other mentally ill people.

Of course there's nuance to the conversation. Some varieties of mental illness, particularly the most prevalent ones of depression and anxiety, probably have little to no effect on violent tendencies, whereas others like addiction which have a major effect on impulse control almost certainly do, and still others literally have aggression and violence as part of the diagnostic criteria. It's also important to think carefully about how we assign culpability for violence committed by mentally ill people, and about the impact of speech which uncritically conflates all mental illness with violence. But the idea that violence committed against mentally ill people means we shouldn't speak about the link between mental illness and that which they commit, or even that no such links exists has absolutely none of that nuance. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk :)

Current Mood: tired

Entry tags:

Monthly culture, March 2026

01MAR26: Secrets of the Thames -- Museum of London, Docklands
( Read more... )
05MAR26: The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
07MAR26: The Bride! (Maggie Gylenhaal, 2026) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
( Read more... )
12MAR26: Lionheart (Nnaji, 2018) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
21MAR26: Project Hail Mary (Lord/Miller, 2026) -- Greenwich Picturehouse
( Read more... )
22MAR26: A Child of Our Time (Tippett, 1941) -- Blackheath Halls
( Read more... )
26MAR26: Life of Chuck (Flanagan, 2024) -- Netflix
( Read more... )
28MAR26: John Proctor is the Villain (Belflower, 2022) -- Royal Court Theatre
( Read more... )

Entry tags:

tv: ncis: hawai'i

(no subject)

NCIS: Hawai'i season 3:

( Read more... )