Just one thing: 28 December 2025

Dec. 28th, 2025 07:48 am
[personal profile] jazzyjj posting in [community profile] awesomeers
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!

335 | rec-cember, week four

Dec. 28th, 2025 10:59 am
straightforwardly: a black & white cat twining around a girl's legs; both are outside. (Default)
[personal profile] straightforwardly
I’ve been going back and forth as to what my final [community profile] rec_cember theme should be, and I’ve once again decided to do something slightly different. I think it’s probably obvious that I love sharing recs, and it’s probably equally obvious that the vast majority of those recs are fic recs, because fic has always been my main focus in fandom.

But this time, I think I want to rec some animatics. Specifically, animatics made for the songs from EPIC the Musical. Back during the height of my EPIC obsession this past spring/summer, I was watching many, many of the animatics on youtube, and I had the intention of making a recs list of my favorites. Obviously, I never got around to that, but it’s been lingering on my mind, so… why not now?

For these recs, I’m drawing from a list of recs I sent to a friend on discord back in August, and arranging them in the order of where the songs fall on the tracklist. There are thirteen recs in total.beneath the cut )

Shoresy (seasons 1-4)

Dec. 28th, 2025 09:26 am
rmc28: Rachel in hockey gear on the frozen fen at Upware, near Cambridge (Default)
[personal profile] rmc28

Shoresy is a Canadian comedy show about an ice hockey team, currently available to stream on ITVX. It is very crude (swearing, sex & toilet humour) and very funny, and it loves hockey. The episodes are short, around 20 minutes, and the seasons only have six of them, so it's relatively fast watching.

(ITVX insists on checking in with me at the start of each episode that I really want to watch "very strong language and adult humour". This made it great for watching in bed because if I fell asleep, it wouldn't keep playing past the end of the current episode.)

Anyway, despite the aforementioned crudity, it is often weirdly wholesome. There's a lot of little repeated catchphrases, I think maybe the show's own meta-commentary on how much of hockey discussion is cliché-ridden, but like Terry Pratchett wrote, sometimes things become clichés because they are true. Hockey brings people together. Hockey players give back. By the community, for the community. Go till you can't go no more. Episode 3.6 in particular manages to capture how a high-stakes hockey game feels, and is probably my favourite of the entire four seasons.

So anyway, this weird crude funny show got past my usual reluctance to watch TV on my own, and even to rewatch some of my favourite parts. I gather season 5 started showing in Canada on 25 December, but no idea if it too will come to ITVX.

(Trivia point: the executive producer of Heated Rivalry is Jacob Tierney, who also produced Shoresy. I didn't realise this until I'd started watching, but ok, this guy loves ice hockey, just like Rachel Reid does, no wonder he chose to adapt her books.)

December Days 02025 #27: Sysadmin

Dec. 27th, 2025 11:20 pm
silveradept: A head shot of a  librarian in a floral print shirt wearing goggles with text squiggles on them, holding a pencil. (Librarian Goggles)
[personal profile] silveradept
It's December Days time again. This year, I have decided that I'm going to talk about skills and applications thereof, if for no other reason than because I am prone to both the fixed mindset and the downplaying of any skills that I might have obtained as not "real" skills because they do not fit some form of ideal.

27: Sysadmin )
dorchadas: (Chrono Trigger Campfire Scene)
[personal profile] dorchadas
We spent the week leading up to the new year in Hawai'i this year! We've been planning this for months, though originally we didn't know if it was going to happen at all. My sister [instagram.com profile] wanderluster_kp lives in Honolulu and has for a few years now, but I've never gotten to go before--my family has been going to Hawai'i on and off for decades at this point, ever since Poppa and Gramma Kay would rent a house there, but for various reasons I've never gotten to go. Now's my chance.

Tuesday )

Wednesday )

Thursday )

Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955

Dec. 25th, 2025 04:36 pm
[personal profile] dandylover1
(Catchup - 28 December 2025)
Hello, Dear Readers, and happy Christmas. Here is a little treat for you. It's a review of a children's opera that relates directly to Christmas!

Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955 )

Birb!

Dec. 28th, 2025 05:08 am
vriddy: Cat looking out of the window beside a cup of tea and books (window cat)
[personal profile] vriddy
To PROVE that I am able to make a post without a single mention of K-9 (oh no I already failed), please enjoy pictures of the bird friends I made at the park yesterday :D


Chill bird walking on concrete   Chill bird foraging in a flower bed


I call them magpies because that's what the black and white and beautiful blue-tinted tail colouring makes me think of, but I don't actually know. They are birb. And they are friendly!

One of them came to hang out with us when we took a little break, just sitting there, all puffy and chirping whenever we stopped paying attention to it. Really, surprisingly chill and friendly! I guess people around there are not jerks to them too much.

Puffy bird perching on wall


I know the quality of my pictures is terrible, but that's to encourage everyone to use their Power Of Imagination! I'm actually providing a great public service 😌

Picture of a not a bird friend, at the same park )


Also I'm no longer the only person posting for K-9 out there :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D And they write a PoV I'm less comfortable with (FOR NOW) and that is just AWESOME. Happy times!!! 🥳🥳

Birthday of Tito Schipa and an Update

Dec. 27th, 2025 11:46 pm
[personal profile] dandylover1
Hello, Dear Readers. Let's start with a lovely post that I made tonight on Reddit.

Birthday of Tito Schipa

https://www.reddit.com/r/OldOpera/comments/1pxhits/birthday_of_tito_schipa/

Read More Here )

As for my own life, there isn't really much to say. Christmas was fairly quiet, as usual. A and D have been coming down for breakfast, since they're off until the first week in January. They came and we exchanged gifts. Mostly, we got clothing and money. Mom gave me a few little things later, but that's our tradition, since I love stocking stuffers. Everyone has been doing well, and life is pretty much back to normal, albeit different now. At first, I just joined them out of sympathy and empathy, since M died and I wanted them not to feel alone. As a forty-two year old, I certainly have every right to eat by myself, and also to eat my own food, if I wish. But both the food and the company have been so good that I haven't chosen to do so. I am guaranteed to laugh at leat once with them, and usually several times. My parents are really pulling out all the stops with food. We've had so many interesting things lately that I'm beginning to lose track! Some are from Omaha Steaks, which I very highly recommend for their excellent foods. Tonight, for instance, Mom made Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). I had never had it before and I loved it. This morning, she made her delicious eggs, which I have always enjoyed, and they were wonderful! Joanie's been making her French toast, spair ribs, rib eye steak, quesadillas, and pepperoni bread. The other night, after ourmeal, we had caramel apple tarts. I thought I wouldn't like them, since I don't like caramel in chocolate, but they were extremely good! I am almost finished with my usual little bottles of wine, so I am going to try the ones in the Advent calendar.

Joanie didn't get as much snow as she wanted after Christmas, but we did get a few inches. Mom doesn't like it at all, since it means ice, and she's afraid to walk on it for good reason, having fallen a few times in her life on it. I'm not crazy about it, but I don't fear it. Alli, on the other hand, decided that snow is the enemy and must be barked into submission!

I finally made the switch back to IOS. I don't hate Android, but honestly, the Galaxy A15 was just too big, and I like the home button and a few other things inIOS, plus the fact that my Orbit Writer keyboard works beautifully with it and is small. The battery in my iPhone SE 2020 is only at eighty percent capacity, so I was planning on getting a newer phone. I found an iPhone SE 2022 with 100% battery for $112 and simply had to get it! Joanie tried to put the sim card into it, butshe couldn't get it to fit, and she didn't want to push it in and break it, so we're taking it to TMobile. I'm with Mint, whichis owned by them, and my parents are with TMobile, so I doubt it will be a problem. I'll still use my A15 for various things, but for phone calls, Seeing AI, and other instances where I need to hold the phone, I am very glad to return to a small form factor. And yes, I did consider the blueFox NX1, which is similarly priced. I might get it in the future. But I don't know much about the company or anything about their updates. The SE 2022 will be updated for several more years.

I have a few filler entries to write for this month, so I will probably do that tomorrow. At least one will be an opera review.

I hope this augers well

Dec. 27th, 2025 11:26 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
I woke up feeling lightheaded, slightly headachy and hella tired (this is not the good augering part) This is when Mom tells me that the couple I don't like are coming up tonight. UGH. As I told [personal profile] evil_little_dog that I planned to 'go out with friends' when they came up but now I'm sick (and really I am) so mom says just stay upstairs then and don't bother with them.

But they blew my parents off. WOO HOO. Twice now this holiday. My parents might go to my aunt's house (where they're staying as she's actually prejudice woman's real aunt) in the morning. I'm a late riser so I get out of going (in theory) but even if I don't it'll be a short trip because the Steeler game is tomorrow and they want all visitors out (which should tell everyone what they need to know. You rate under football) And they leave monday so I am hoping this is a sign for the coming year where things that upset me are removed from my presence.


I got my official Hazbin merch today, the holiday poster and key chains (all sold out now) and the season 1 DVDs. I am happy to have that (luckily I'm too tired for my why you don't own downloads rant)

It's time for science saturday


One Protein Is a Better Predictor of Heart Disease Than Cholesterol

Powerful Anti-Cancer Drug Discovered Inside Japanese Tree Frog.

Garlic Mouthwash Could Be The New Gold Standard. Here's Why. I need to send this to my research student who is working with mouthwash


New Drug Stalls Alzheimer's Development in Breakthrough Trial

Cats meow more at men to get their attention, study suggests

A huge surprise': 1,500-year-old church found next to Zoroastrianism place of worship in Iraq

Tiny implant 'speaks' to the brain with LED light

See the 100,000th photo of Mars taken by NASA's groundbreaking Red Planet orbiter


Christmas pictures of the house )

Dragon Cave: Adopt one today!

Dragon Cave: Adopt one today!

Dragon Cave: Adopt one today!

Dragon Cave: Adopt one today!

You can click the eggs if you want.

Sunday Word: Contemporaneous

Dec. 28th, 2025 12:09 pm
sallymn: (words 6)
[personal profile] sallymn posting in [community profile] 1word1day

contemporaneous [kuhn-tem-puh-rey-nee-uhs]

adjective:
existing, beginning, or occurring in the same period of time

Examples:

Some economic data, such as last month’s unemployment rate and consumer-inflation numbers, can’t be compiled retroactively, the Labor Department has said, because they rely on contemporaneous surveys. (Nick Timiraos and Matt Grossman, Wholesale Price Gains Hint at Muted Rise in Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge, The Wall Street Journal, November 2025)

These moments of reckoning - in which something that once felt exciting begins to seem noxious, mephitic, dangerous - are important to heed. (Alex Ross, At Ninety, Arvo Pärt and Terry Riley Still Sound Vital, The New Yorker, November 2025)

In addition to contemporaneous comics, architecture, and music, the film explores the influence of the space race on everyday life of the 1960s. (Ben Sachs, Lewis Klahr’s Sixty Six is a masterful journey through inner space and the American past, Chicago Reader, May 2017)

It gave the explanation, gave sanity to the pranks of this atavistic brain of mine that, modern and normal, harked back to a past so remote as to be contemporaneous with the raw beginnings of mankind. (Jack London, Before Adam)

Origin:
'living or existing at the same time,' 1650s, from Late Latin contemporaneus 'contemporary,' from the same Latin source as contemporary but with an extended form after Late Latin temporaneous 'timely.' An earlier adjective was contemporanean (1550s). (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Snow day

Dec. 27th, 2025 10:24 pm
silver_chipmunk: (Default)
[personal profile] silver_chipmunk
Slept late, woke up and played solitaire on my phone until [personal profile] mashfanficchick woke up. Then ze put in an Instacart order, and I went and took a shower and got dressed. My meeting today was not canceled, but obviously I didn't go.

After the order arrived we had brunch, or lunch. A meal anyway.

And after the meal, we did some cleaning of zer apartment.

After that, we hung out a little while but at a bit after 5:00 I Ubered home.

All was well when I got here. Oreo was happy to see me.

I ordered my 2026 calendars from Calendars.com, my usual ones, the penguin, and the unicorn, and, what Oldest Brother always got for me, the teddy bear one. I miss him so much.

By the time they were ordered and paid for, it was time to Team the FWiB. We talked for a little over an hour and a half.

When we finished, I had a popsicle and some of the peppermint bark the Kid gave me on Christmas. Then I went to the bedroom and puttered on my phone til pet feeding time, when I came out and fed the pets and started here.

The snow is a few inches deep around here, nothing apocalyptic. Looks pretty.

That's about all.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. [personal profile] mashfanficchick

3. Quiet day.

4. Pretty snow.

5. Peppermint bark.

6. New Years Eve coming up.

🥳

Dec. 28th, 2025 03:05 am
goodbyebird: Community: Troy wearing a birthday hat and giving a cheerful thumbs up. (Community yay Birthday!)
[personal profile] goodbyebird
My favorite thing about birthdays is emotional blackmail, so my birthday wish is you watch the pilot for Interview With The Vampire.

If you already have, my wish is you post about your Christmas tree if you have one. I'd love to hear about your favorite decoration - especially if it's old or you made it as a kid! - see a picture even.

Love y'all ❤️
michelel72: Suzie (Default)
[personal profile] michelel72 posting in [community profile] little_details
I'm hoping these are straightforward questions, but I couldn't find a way to word the first to get any relevant results in web searches, and the second got weird on me.

The context is a civilian with extensive field-medic-style training providing off-the-books, in-home medical/supportive care to a preteen who is ill with a viral* fever-inducing illness. (* Viral seems easier; but bacterial is possible if necessary.) The setting is the modern-day (or at least vaguely post-2010) United States.

1. Is it feasible to administer intravenous (IV) saline without an infusion pump? (I've been assuming it is but want to double-check.)

cut for IV details )

2. Is there a point at which a childhood (viral) fever is dangerous?

Read more... )

Many thanks!

Gap Week: December Holidays, 2025

Dec. 28th, 2025 12:10 am
[syndicated profile] acoup_feed

Posted by Bret Devereaux

Hey folks! Apologies for this coming out late – alas the pedant household has been struck by a nasty cold that has made keeping up with work this week quite challenging.  No post this week, on account of it being Christmas time. May you all have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holidays or simply Friendly Season’s Greetings, whichever is your preference!

We’ll be back next week with some Tolkien (I am planning to post up the text of my keynote, “Tolkien and Éowyn Between Two Wars” which I delivered this past week at the 2025 Prancing Pony Podcast Moot) and then we’ll be back to finishing out our discussion of hoplites in the New Year.

In the meantime, this is normally the spot in the calendar where I do a bit of ‘year in review’ so let me indulge in that. 2025 set a new record for traffic on the blog – it looks like we’ll end up around 4.25m page views, at last dethroning 2022 which had held the record.1 The most popular post this year by far was “Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire” with more than 140,000 views. The distant-runners-up (but still doing quite well) were “Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy ‘Gold,'” and “How Gandalf Proved Mightiest.” Meanwhile I was pleasantly surprised that the series on “Life, Work, Death and the Peasant” also pulled in a decent number of readers despite being a pretty technical-in-the-weeds series without a strong ‘pop-culture’ hook. It ended up the year a bit short of 300,000 page views split over its 10 parts and subparts.

In the New Year, my plan is to get to a lot of lingering Patron requests, including the winners of the ACOUP Senate poll. We’re going to get some discussion of the Late Bronze Age Collapse, some on of how ancient polytheism interacts with ancient states and some of mercenaries and other things. I think 2026 is probably also the year for the nearly inevitable Teaching Paradox: Hearts of Iron IV (in which you can look forward to some praise but perhaps some sharper criticism of the Paradox approach; HoI4 is a remarkable game but it has some remarkable problems too).

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