renegadepublishing | Member Posts

This post has the funniest argument I have seen against AI: "A computer can never be spiteful or horny. Therefore a computer must never make art."

Now from an anthropological perspective, anything decorative rather than purely functional is "art" -- a contrasting color around the rim of a jug, for instance. From a cultural perspective, however, art is about emotion. It's how we express our human feelings about things we have seen or imagined as a way of communicating with other people. So by that definition, a computer cannot make art, even if it can mash around colors and images. An interesting point.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches at the feeders. Blackbirds and catbirds are mobbing the mulberry tree in the house yard.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/10/25 -- I did some work around the patio.

.

Current Mood: busy

bluedreaming

With my second load of ordered danmei arriving,¹ I came to the bizarre realization that after so many years I’m…buying books with the intention of…reading them? What a paradigm shift!

This isn’t quite 100% accurate, but through my life I was first in the stage of borrowing books from the library and then buying them to keep if I really liked them, then a lot of ebooks, never mind my massive fic reading numbers, and all throughout I’ve also had a strong general practice of buying select books to have for whatever reason, often with not much intention of reading them, at least not anytime soon.²

I do have rules! I’m only “allowed” to collect things that fall within certain parameters, though some of the new ones (danmei, light novels that are horror/certain others) are a bit loose and will need to be tightened up eventually. I don’t have enough space for an infinity of books. I also generally buy ebooks if I can get them DRM-free, and after that, depending on the title, I may go for an audiobook instead if it exists.)

¹ These aren’t “large” publishers like 7seas that I can get via my local bookstore but rather Rosmei & Via Lactea etc. and are physical-only (somewhat limited run?) publications.
² i.e. I somehow randomly decided to start collecting C. J. Cherryh’s sci-fi books in hardcover, and now I’m too far in.

vriddy

A Drop of Corruption was as good as y'all said. Loved it at least as much as the first book. Love these characters, this world, those mysteries. I hope we get ten more of them!! At least!!!!!!!!!! And the afterword/author's note at the end was kickass, too.

Yay to good books \o/

elf

I'd forgotten how much I love https://theyfightcrime.org.

He's a lonely skateboarding shaman with a winning smile and a way with the ladies. She's a bloodthirsty wisecracking wrestler who hides her beauty behind a pair of thick-framed spectacles. They fight crime!

He's an unconventional soccer-playing grifter in a wheelchair. She's an orphaned foul-mouthed socialite from out of town. They fight crime!

He's an oversexed ninja werewolf fleeing from a secret government programme. She's an enchanted snooty advertising executive with a knack for trouble. They fight crime!

( something-something fic prompts )

vriddy

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

I just would like to give another signal boost and pointer toward

sunshine_revival, as the comm and event appear very active! You can dip in and out and don't have to start from the beginning, just jump in whenever you like and enjoy, and hopefully make new dreamwidth friends :) I've been enjoying the challenge replies I spot on my reading page!

ysabetwordsmith

Roadside America lists a lot of quirky attractions. Here's the list for Illinois.

Current Mood: amused

morgandawn

In late 2019, TV, movie, anime, gaming, celebrity, music, and book fans assembled to save Yahoo Groups after Verizon decided to shut down the mailing list service. Approximately 300,000 fandom groups have been saved. The Yahoo Gedden project is working on identifying the fandoms of Italian language mailing lists and can use your help. We need people who can read Italian natively right now to help us identify the Unknown groups. You can work at your own pace and it is a low time commitment. Work is done on Discord, just reading the Italian group description and a few messages and summarizing the messages in English, maybe answering a question of clarification ("is it talking about X or Y?"). No software or other tools needed besides your phone/computer and access to Discord.

Discord invite: https://discord.gg/UyJdffhw2b

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists host 'science fair of canceled grants' on Capitol Hill to fight funding cuts

The researchers gathered, alongside the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to present posters in a good, old-fashioned science fair, titled “The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants.”

It's a great tactic, and one that other fields could use too. "Here are some useful things you could have had, but these specific people took them away from you." That's guaranteed to piss off a lot of people.

It's also among the standard protest techniques in Terramagne. Not only is it sound activism for pounding the perpetrators, it also has a pretty good chance of someone else deciding to sponsor your canceled project if they like your pitch. Feel free to prompt me for that.

Current Mood: angry

ysabetwordsmith

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot. Yesterday it rained for half the day and into the night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. They've drained half the thistle feeder but I still need to refill that one.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I filled the thistle feeder.

I've seen a male cardinal and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I sprayed weedkiller on poison ivy around the yard.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I potted up two apricot seeds.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This is actually from 7/7/25 but it wasn't up when I checked, and then the net was down.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

We went up to Champaign-Urbana today.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

autobotscoutriella

Challenge #2: Tunnel of Love
Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

I've never been great at being sentimental about things - complicated depressing family history reasons that eventually added up to "I'm bad at openly expressing how much I love something". But I've been working on that, so tricky as it might be, I'm going to talk about something summer-associated that I love that I don't talk about much: hummingbirds.

They're so pretty. I've had a hummingbird feeder for years, and every spring they show up at my window to see where it is. In the summer, I'll sit out on the porch with a book and just hang out while the hummingbirds hold a tiny little territory war over the feeder. I'm sure it's all very serious and dramatic, if you're a hummingbird. If you're me, it's just adorable, and kind of noisy.

Two years ago I left the back door open, and a hummingbird decided to make herself at home in my apartment. This would be an adorable moment of "chosen by the birds", except that I also have a cat, so it was a very exciting twenty minutes of trying to very gently remove a small angry bird. Worth it, though. They're precious.

(Note to self: refill feeder tonight.)

No creative-prompt fill from me this challenge, because poetry and I have a very bad relationship. Alas! In apology, I found a picture of a hummingbird (not mine, I can't photograph birds that move that fast):

( cut to spare my reading page )

Current Mood: chipper

bluedreaming

text: sunshine revival july 2025, image: fluffy white clouds in a summer blue sky and the hint of power lines like white foss

sunshine_revival

I have been working on the challenges, all signs to the contrary, so I figured I’d better just get this post up even if it’s on my phone (always a fun experiment when there’s more formatting than usual).

I’m not really a journalling person, so it seems like I’ll be going with the creative prompts.

As always, this is also a hello post 👋

( Friending Meme )

( Challenge #1 )

( Challenge #2 )

( Challenge #3 )

ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/8/25 -- It rained for about half the day and into the night.

Current Mood: busy

harpers_child

1. Brain raccoons in full force in the few days leading up to this trip. In part because I got my period and being in your 40s evidently means you just lose your mind for a few days every month. (This has been going in for like 6? months. Maybe more. I swear every god that knows my name I'm going mad. The internet says this is just what peri-menopause is and suck it up buttercup.)

1b. Brain raccoons are insisting that the new music player is inadequate because it only has a handful of albums and every mashup I could find on my various drives (600-ish). The raccoons say I need to bring my ipod that only holds charge for the length of a shower as well because my comfort playlists are on there.

My music collection is disorganized enough that I don't have the brain bandwidth to organize it and rebuild the comfort playlists on the new device before leaving. My brain bandwidth is taken up with other things

2. New fountain pen owner milestone: have completely taken apart and put back together two of my four TWSBI Ecos. One had the end cap come off during cleaning today and the other had water get in on the wrong side of the plunger. For personal future reference this is the video I used -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUPaXQpXOEY

2b. The TWSBI Eco is my current favorite fountain pen. Easy to fill, chunky enough for my hands, and the stub nib works nicely with my awful handwriting.

3. I am running into packing problems mostly because a third of my suitcase is taken up by the collapsible bag I'm bringing for souvenirs.

ysabetwordsmith

This poem is spillover from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "growth" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest bingo. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Daughters of the Apocalypse.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists’ top 10 bee-magnet blooms—turn any lawn into a pollinator paradise

Botanists from the University of Copenhagen and the UK set out to find the best flower combinations for bees and hoverflies.
Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, offering ready-made recipes for transforming lawns, parks, and patios into vibrant pollinator hotspots.

Below are the plants recommended for European and United Kingdom uses...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government"
Poem: "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness"
Poem: "Always Surprised by Consequences"
Poem: "No Such Thing as Finished"
Geology
Birdfeeding
Today's Smoothie
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Government
Fireworks
Writing About Fireworks
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 7-4-25: Historical Fiction
Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Problem-Solving
Hard Things

"Philosophical Questions: Looks" has 41 comments. "Not a Destination, But a Process" has 146 comments. "The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean" has 95 comments.

sunshine_revival is running through July. See the schedule, meet the moderators, and use the master post to navigate the event. Meet new folks in the friending meme. Spread the word!

* Sunshine Revival Challenge 1: Light
Poem: "The Pleasure of Escaping the Responsibility"

* Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love
Poem: "Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers"

summerofthe69 is now open! You can see the calendar here and the current themes are Tetris 69 and Body Worship 69.

"In the Heart of the Hidden Garden" is now complete! Lawrence shows Stan more of his favorite places.

The weather has been variable here. It rained yesterday and last night. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of mourning doves, a male cardinal, a gray catbird, a fox squirrel, a skunk, and at least 1 probably 2 bats. Currently blooming: dandelions, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, impatiens, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, Asiatic lilies, cucumber, snowball bush, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, narrow-leaf mountain mint, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, wild bergamot, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant. Daylilies are done blooming. Cucumbers, tomatillo, and pepper have green fruit. The first 'Chocolate Sprinkles' tomato ripened and some other tomatoes are showing color. Wild strawberries, mulberries, peas, and blackberries are ripe. Black raspberries are done.

Current Mood: busy

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Renegade Publishing

Member Posts

Artificial Intelligence

Birdfeeding

what’s the opposite of tsundoku?

Rec: A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett

They Fight Crime!

Community Thursday

Roadside America

Italian Speakers Need For Yahoo Groups Rescue Project

Activism

Cuddle Party

Birdfeeding

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

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Sunshine Challenge 2025: #2

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Poem: "Tomato Seedlings in Tin Cans"

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