cathrowan | Network

Sam was good enough to come by today so we could put the busted section of fence back together. An old panel had separated from a new post, because toe nailing (with or without added screws) simply isn't very effective when the wood in the crossbars is rotting out.

The good news is that I had lumber in the garage from a previous repair plan that hadn't been executed in that form (we hired the contractor who rebuilt one long section of fence that was in horrible shape and also fixed several posts, but not so much it turns out the sections connected to them). This meant that we just needed to rip out the old fence section, haul it up to the patio, salvage the useful pickets, throw the dangerous to the dogs rusty nails into a bucket for disposal, and then build a new section between two nicely stable posts.

Piece of cake.

Well, piece of cake if Sam and I weren't both dealing with various problems in knees and hips which slowed us down quite a bit. But we used the joist hangers to drop the 2x4s between the two posts -- an arrangement which is much more stable than toe nailing -- and then just had to nail the surviving pickets back up. We had to replace five pickets, so I went into the cache in the garage and retrieved those. Overall, it took us about five hours, which is acceptable.

And the fence is up, which is admirable. :)

Tomorrow, I go back to practicing for Debbie's Interfilk concert at FKO...

mistressofmuses

This week, a sticker of the lunar lander from my friends the Atomic Pixies. Not quite the same thing, but seemed appropriate for the week of the Artemis II mission. :)

This was a decent week. It was nearly a "bingo" week (a week where I did every tracked habit at least once.) It barely misses out, because my non-fiction writing didn't hit the 500 word threshold, but it was over 400 words, so I'm sort of counting it. I also got almost everything I'd hoped to done. It was really cool getting to follow footage and coverage of the Artemis II mission throughout the week. I worked a bunch on my reading page for my tracker (since I'm about to start a new tracking notebook, I decided to redo this year's in the new book), and it's felt nice to do an artsy thing. I did a decent amount of reading, and have been lucky with enjoying all of it. I didn't do as much writing, either on reviews or on my WIP, as I'd hoped, but I did actually work on both. Work was fine. I have continued with my workday walks. Minorly dreading going to the doctor next week.

Goals for the week:

I read These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart
I started reading The Two Towers
We paid rent
I paid toward my hospital bill
I cleaned up my floor (mostly realigning and vacuuming the tower of dog beds)
I did work on my WIP outline
I did set up my reading page in the new notebook
We did go get fruit flies, but will have to get more since they were on the end of their cycle :/
I worked on my reviews
I put my laundry away
I did not vote :( It was a little special election, and I filled out my ballot, but thought I had an extra day to drop my ballot off.

Tracked habits:

Work - 5/7
Household Maintenance - 3/7
Physical Activity - 6/7
Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 1/7 - over 500 words
Non-fiction Writing - 0/7, but with one day of under 500 words
Meta Work - 3/7
Personal Writing - 3/7
Other Creative Things - 5/7
Reading - 7/7 - I read These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart, started The Two Towers, and read some of Game Changer, as well as the short story "Constellations"; Alex and I read some of The Luminous Dead.
Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday was very slow at work, so I had book reviews in the background, then later had paranormal videos and news coverage in the background; Monday we watched coverage of Artemis II and the eclipse they got to see; Tuesday we watched news; Wednesday and Thursday had exploration and game videos on; Friday we watched the splash down of the Artemis II crew, and then later some game videos; Saturday watched paranormal then game videos.
Video Games - 1/7 - I played some more Hades and got one more successful run.
Social Interaction - 7/7

Total words written: 1047 on reviews and on my WIP

Current Mood: sore
Current Location: my apartment

starandrea

♥ Mom Cat Shows Her Kittens The German Shepherd Is Safe, youtube vid from Laffey and Amy

just an adorable german shepherd befriending some kittens with a little help from mom

jazzyjj posting in

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!

ysabetwordsmith

Today we did a bunch of different things, including a Charleston loop in the morning and a Champaign loop in the afternoon.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

pennyarcade_feed

https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2026/04/13/kink-and-shame

I always preferred Forza Horizon to the traditional Forza, but I never thought that was a compliment to me. I would love to say that I stopped going to church because I had unspun the fundamental philosophies inherent to it, and stood astride it, gleaming like a newly minted God. It's a fiction I'd love to maintain. In the end, I simply couldn't hack it - I was willing to engage in a multi-year campaign of gruesome self-recrimination, obviously. But once it became clear that it was utterly open-ended, a blank check I would perpetually cash against my own identity, I could burn myself alive or try to go on as a maimed and useless creature. That's basically me and Forza Horizon. I wish that I were hardcore enough for the progenitor - of the universe, or the racing franchise. Take your pick.

https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2026/04/13/kink-and-shame

silver_chipmunk

Last night I managed to fall asleep while I was still playing on my phone in bed. I woke up at 3-something with the light on, my reading glasses on, and my phone having slipped out of my hand (fortunately it didn't fall to the floor.) Very weird sensation.

Anyway, I put everything away and turned off the light and went back to sleep pretty easily. Got up this morning around 11:00 and had breakfast and coffee.

The toilet was still wonky, so I put in a Shipt order including a new plunger. It arrived unusually quickly, and I plunged the toilet, and it is fine now.

Then I did mostly nothing all day. I tried, unsuccessfully, to talk to someone at the sleep doctor's. I think they may only be there Tuesday through Thursday so I'll see if I hear tomorrow.

I got a rather disturbing phone call from the hospital that provides my mental health services, apparently for the first time now they require a referral from my PCP for getting paid by my insurance. I never needed a referral before. I gave the woman the name and phone number of my PCP. I hope I don't have to start paying a copay.

I called Duane Reade because I haven't heard about my prescriptions being ready, and sure enough they don't have any record of my psychiatrist phoning them in. He must have forgotten, luckily I have enough for now. But I'll have to call him before I talk t0 him again and remind him.

I read the Cat Haiku that I got awhile ago from Thriftbooks, and I read more in The Godmother.

At 7:00ish the FWiB told me he had to run out on an errand, which took longer than he expected, so we didn't talk til 8:00. But we had a full conversation anyway.

The Kid just texted me, she is safely home from her weekend away.

Last night

mashfanficchick called me, which was nice. Ze returns home tomorrow.

Just fed the pets. This morning I gave Oreo his Fancy Feast in the carrier and lifted him in all the way. He jumped out immediately but it's a start.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. The toilet is fixed.

3. The Kid is home safe.

4.

mashfanficchick returning soon.

5. Good books.

6. My pets.

Current Mood: okay

delphi

Fandom 50 #9

For my 1985 pick, it feels like a good day for five minutes of surreal geography-themed art pop.

Map of the World, Pt. II by Jane Siberry

Watch on YouTube

questionable_content_feed

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5807

glowey...

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5807

phys_social_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-exposes-deadly-exploitation-migrant-fishers.html

Isolated on a Taiwanese fishing vessel, eight days from the nearest landmass, 22-year-old Indonesian fisherman Sugiama was found dead in his bunk in 2019. His death followed an 18-hour shift and an assault the night before, when he was hit across the head for not working fast enough.

https://phys.org/news/2026-04-exposes-deadly-exploitation-migrant-fishers.html

mxcatmoon

Is anyone noticing that Dreamwidth loads really slowly these days? Sometimes I have to wait almost half a minute when all my other sites are almost instantaneous. So, it's not my computer.

I've been keeping it to myself, but the reason I haven't been engaging as much lately as usual because I've been having some health issues. I'm very stressed out about. I'm trying to remain positive, but I'm afraid it may not be anything simple this time. I even have a bag packed, in case I end up with a hospital stay. The worst part is, I'm so poor I can't afford this shit (yes, even with insurance, our hours have been cut at work and I can barely afford food). I'm not certain what's going to happen if a lot of bills get run up. Keep me in your prayers, thanks.

I've been distracting myself with Miami Vice. Still haven't finished my rewatch but I'm on the last episode now. I'm mad at Rico, my beloved has pissed me off. 😉 I'll get over it and forgive him, though.

What the heck, I'll post the memes I just did here.
difference meme

Then there's Castillo, Rico, Sonny, and the vein in Sonny's forehead: 😉
He's just a little bit protective...

walkalone13

Current Mood: anxious

scrubjayspeaks

Our local public-access channel LLTV has several open time slots, following the recent death of debatably beloved veteran broadcaster and local crank Milton Jorgensen, and is accepting applications for new programming. If you have a program of local or educational interest, you can submit forms and pilot episodes for review at the office on Watchtower Hill. If accepted, you will join such popular programs as What’s My Tail Doing?: Health Education for the Shapeshifter Community, Potions with Pammy, and Rainbow Chasers: Hyperlocal Weather Forecasts.

---

LL#1382

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/13/a-very-engaging-charcuterie-board/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60144

Hey, everyone! I was going to continue to post about my adventures in Colorado, but I decided a detour was in order today to show y’all this spread I did last night for my friend’s engagement party. Feast your eyes on my (mainly Aldi and partially Kroger) spread of goods for about fifty people to snack on:

A large spread of various meats and cheeses, as well as jams, olives, and nuts, all laid out on butcher paper. There's large piles of cubed and crumbled cheeses, a river of prosciutto, folded salamis, wheels of brie, a log of goat cheese, lots of good stuff!

So, while this isn’t everything I put out, this is the main event. I was very nervous to do a spread for so many people, as normally I deal in much smaller groups. Usually my boards are usually made for about ten people. I know you’re probably thinking, there’s no way that spread survived fifty people. And you’d be right! After the first wave of snackers, I snuck in to refill everything, and continued to refill as was necessary to keep it looking full and making sure everyone got a bite of what they wanted.

I was informed ahead of time that there were no known allergies amongst the entire group (except, of course, my bestie having a gluten intolerance). With that knowledge in mind, let’s look at what we got!

We’ve got double cream brie, dill Havarti, smoked gouda, cranberry cheddar, espresso martini soaked cheddar, pimento cheese dip, honey goat cheese, and a garlic and herbs Boursin. For the meats I did a very simple prosciutto and salami. I also brought a garlic summer sausage but I couldn’t really make it work in my presentation so I gave up on it and just went with the two meats, which honestly who needs more meat than just prosciutto and salami? Those are my two favorites, anyway.

Accoutrements include fig jam, a berry jalapeno jam, Stonewall Kitchen’s Maine Maple Champagne Mustard, quince paste, a pear, cardamom, and pistachio jam, blackcurrant mustard, Truff hot sauce, and an orange whiskey jam. There’s also stuffed peppers and herby olives, dates, salted caramel black truffle peanuts, rosemary Marcona almonds, pistachios, hot honey cashews, and chocolate covered pomegranate seeds. Finally, front and center is Zeroe Caviar’s vegan caviar made from seaweed. I’ve never put it on a board before, but I figured caviar was needed at an engagement party.

As you can tell from the grapes all the way on the right, there’s more to see than this picture lets on. I just did some strawberries, blackberries, and grapes with fruit fluff, and then pinwheel striped and sliced some mini cucumbers and set those out with carrots and celery alongside tzatziki and feta dip, plus a creamy ranch dip. There was also a tray of various cookies like Walker’s shortbread, Pirouette cookies, and some strawberry and creme covered pretzels. Plus blue corn tortilla chips and salsa.

Here’s a different angle so hopefully you can somewhat see some other items:

The spread from a different angle, now showing the fruit and veggies at the other end.

At the end you can see the fruit fluff and fruit, and the veggies and dips further down. And look, someone brought hummus! How thoughtful. Luckily, I had pita chips to go with it. I also set out some cranberry crisps, rosemary flatbread crackers, and some other entertainment crackers but nothing really of note. I kept my friend’s gluten-free crackers behind the counter for her, as well as her gluten-free cookies.

So, there you have it, a spread from yours truly for my bestie’s engagement party. I am so excited for her, her fiancé, and to be in her wedding. She means the world to me and I was happy to feed those closest to her.

Which cheese sounds the best to you? Would you try the vegan caviar? Let me kn0w in the comments, and have a great day!

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/04/13/a-very-engaging-charcuterie-board/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=60144

rocky41_7 posting in

booknook

Title: The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan #1)
Author: Robert Jackson Bennett
Genre: Fantasy, murder mystery

On Sunday I finished The Tainted Cup, the first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett. This is a fantasy murder mystery with an element of political thriller.

The main character is Ana Dolabra, an eccentric but brilliant investigator, and I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen a woman fill this role. The wacky but effective investigator is of course a very well-known stock character, but has always been, in my experience, a man. I found Ana delightful; strange but not off-putting, and without coming off like the author was working to hard to make her quirky.

However, our point-of-view protagonist is Din Kol, Ana’s put-upon assistant, on whose shoulders falls the managing of her many idiosyncrasies. They’re a fun team to watch work, and in this first book we get to see their working relationship unfold, as they’ve only recently teamed up at the start. Din is fine, but mostly I appreciated him as a lens for Ana.

Bennett’s fantasy world is characterized by fantastical use and manipulation of plants and the human body. Din, for instance, has been modified to be an “engraver”—someone with an eidetic memory. For obvious reasons, this serves him well as aid to an investigator.

I think Bennett does a good job of throwing you into the world and letting you use context to figure most of it out. I get bored with SFF novels that feel the need to hold your hand, as if you might be a first-time SFF reader who never encountered a magic system before, so I was relieved when Bennett just started telling the story and letting me figure the world out as it went along. I’d rather be a bit lost at times than be toddled along, but I never felt lost here.

The novel touches on some things that I feel are pretty keenly relevant, like the ability of the wealthy to avoid justice and their willingness to inflict suffering on the rest of society to better their own position (and then justify it to themselves).

I don’t read a ton of murder mysteries, so I may not be the best judge of this, but I also felt that Ana worked well. It’s a tough trick writing a character who’s meant to be much smarter than the rest of the cast (perhaps even than the author!), and it can fail a couple of ways: the supposed “brilliant” deductions are obvious to the average reader, making the rest of the cast look painfully dull for not seeing them; or the machinations are so obtuse with so little evidence the reader simply won’t believe the detective could have figured that out without an ass-pull from the author. I didn’t think Bennett fell into either of these traps and every detail Ana referred to in one of her deductions was something that had been mentioned before.

I enjoyed this book and I plan to read the next one. Very interested to see where Ana’s adventures take her next!

rocky41_7 posting in

books

On Sunday I finished The Tainted Cup, the first book in the Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett. This is a fantasy murder mystery with an element of political thriller.

I enjoyed this book and I plan to read the next one. Very interested to see where Ana’s adventures take her next!

nnozomi posting in

guardian_learning

部首
水 part 24
温, warm; 港, harbor; 渴, thirsty ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=85

语法
3.22 如果...就~~~ if ... then ~~~
https://www.digmandarin.com/hsk-3-grammar

词汇
棒, great/stick (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
粥还是温的，你先把粥喝了然后把药吃了, the congee is still warm, drink it first and then take your medicine
如果我是女王蜂，他就只是给我打下手的工蜂罢了, if I'm the queen bee, then he's just a worker bee who did the job for me
没有什么紧张是一根棒棒糖不能解决的。如果有，就两根, there's no tension that a lollipop can't resolve. If there is, try two lollipops.

Me:
他的港普很难懂。
哦，你真棒！

lightreads

Chain-Gang All-Stars

4/5. A near future dystopian America where the carceral system has an entertainment component under which inmates can “voluntarily” enter a reality show program where they fight to the death for a chance at freedom. This book is about a lot of people in and around that system, but centrally two women stars of it.

This is brilliant and beautiful and deeply humane while being about inhumane things. Some have complained it’s on-the-nose which, like, yes? I’m sorry, did you want subtlety in this critique? What good would that do?

Which leads me to the structure of this book. Tonally, it is a sustained scream, modulating with the kind of pain it is expressing. And then sprinkled throughout are footnotes. Some didactic, some painful, some about our current prison statistics, some about these fictional people. It is a really interesting choice. The author called it an “ethical” one which I am interpreting to mean that he is not interested in giving readers a chance to weasel out of understanding some of what this book is putting down. I think that is also a really smart way of confronting the thing that has wrecked other books like this. The problem is that it’s really hard to tell a story that is critiquing violence and suffering as entertainment without also entertaining your reader with violence and suffering. And the approach taken here is one of the best I’ve ever seen at negotiating that.

Content notes: Oh boy. Violence, murder, torture, mentions of rape and domestic violence, structural and personal racism

jwz_blog_feed

Posted by jwz

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/

https://jwz.org/b/yk6K

SAN FRANCISCO:

"I've been using ChatGPT to help with cooking for a while now, so I didn't think too much of it when the ingredients list included a bottle filled with gasoline and a cloth wick," said the alleged attacker, who added that he naturally assumed making the rice dish involved driving several hours to the OpenAI CEO's residence, especially after the AI chatbot had given him a "pretty decent" sesame chicken recipe the week before.
"I have to admit I felt a little weird as I prepared to toss this flaming incendiary device through [Altman's] front window, but the recipe explicitly stated that this was an essential step to get that creamy, velvety risotto texture. I guess I didn't know any better. I mean, I've never made risotto before."
The suspect went on to tell reporters that he still had "a whole fridge full" of Molotov cocktails at home, having attempted to prep enough risotto to last the week.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/

https://jwz.org/b/yk6K

tarlanx

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #7038 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1005.
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.

Profile

cathrowan

January 2026

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Page Summary

billroper - Please Fence Me In
mistressofmuses - Habit Tracking: Week 15 (April 05 - April 11)
starandrea - "no matter what, her smile came shining through" (meredith edwards)
jazzyjj in awesomeers - Just one thing: 14 April 2026
ysabetwordsmith - Today's Adventures
pennyarcade_feed - Kink And Shame
silver_chipmunk - Very quiet day
delphi - Post and Jam: Map of the World, Pt. II by Jane Siberry [1985]
questionable_content_feed - No Place Like Home
phys_social_feed - New research exposes the deadly exploitation of migrant fishers in poorly regulated waters
mxcatmoon - Just random stuff and health (and Miami Vice because it helps me cope)
scrubjayspeaks - Lake Lewisia #1382
scalziwhatever_feed - A Very “Engaging” Charcuterie Board
rocky41_7 in booknook - Book review: The Tainted Cup
rocky41_7 in books - Recent Reading: The Tainted Cup
nnozomi in guardian_learning - 第五年第九十三天
lightreads - Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
jwz_blog_feed - Man Who Threw Molotov Cocktail At Sam Altman's Home Claims He Was Following ChatGPT Recipe For Risot
tarlanx - Fandom Update
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #7038 ]

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