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Monday, April 20th, 2026 03:25 am
Toyota developed the only production V12 to come from Japan to provide a smooth, comfortable riding experience for one of its most opulent executive vehicles.

Sunday, April 19th, 2026 11:07 pm
Thick, Sticky, Morass
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 5 of 5, complete
Word count (story only): 1452
[Morning of Thursday, 9 November of 2017]


:: The first update on Jasper’s condition puts Jules in the middle of an ethical conundrum, even though he has no influence on the situation. That’s another layer of complication. Part of the “Lodestar” arc, set in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::


Back to part 4
:: Thanks for reading! ::




As Jules turned toward the security station, intending to leave the embassy for an early dinner, someone tapped him on the shoulder. A woman with wheat-blonde hair in a pixie cut beamed sunnily at him. “Hey, the Ambassador needs you to come join a pasture chat. She said it’s important.”

Jules nodded. “Lead on.”
Read more... )
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 09:57 pm
Spring is a perfect time to start a nature journal. I've been talking about it with some friends so I wanted to share some resources here. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can have text, art, photos, pressed leaves, whatever you want to include. There are different approaches; all of them are good. Grab a blank book with plain or lined pages as you prefer, something to write or draw with, and head out to your yard, garden, or a nearby park.

Read more... )
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 08:21 pm
Spring is a perfect time to start a nature journal. I've been talking about it with some friends so I wanted to share some resources here. It doesn't have to be fancy. It can have text, art, photos, pressed leaves, whatever you want to include. There are different approaches; all of them are good. Grab a blank book with plain or lined pages as you prefer, something to write or draw with, and head out to your yard, garden, or a nearby park.

Read more... )
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 09:39 pm
...when did I last post that I had to keep standing up to keep my muscles from stiffening so much I couldn't move, because that's how I feel right now. I fell asleep on the couch and couldn't remember what day it was, but did eventually remember that I'd meant to get some food and that would help, so I fed me and the dog and sat back down. With Daphne curled up in my lap or next to it, I usually wait for her to move first, and she just did, so I got up, and immediately I remembered whenever that was because wow, today was such a day.

Apparently it was last weekend? When I cut back the spirea and potted the cannas: that was only last weekend??

This is honestly one of the biggest reasons I'm posting more, because it's so great to have a journal of stuff I did and learned. It's here and gone so fast, and most of it is delightful (admittedly sometimes more so in the remembering, but that's a feature not a bug). It's so nice to be able to look back and go, oh yeah! I'd forgotten that and it was great, or, I remember that and it was worth it, or, I remember that and I just learned it again for the fifth time, ha ha.

(The other reason is that I did almost all of my posting in Chinese last year, and dreamwidth can't be searched in Chinese, which is not ideal. Tags work in Chinese, but they're not alphabetized (or stroke orderized, or organized by any logical system whatsoever as far as I can tell), so not only do I have to correctly guess what tag I might have used I also have to read my entire tag list to find it. This makes it very hard to find my garden notes on a particular plant or garden. I've been able to find basic stuff like what came up first and when, but what I started and how I cared for it, not so much. So this year I have two journals again. And it's great, because my English journal is much more readable. Half the time I have no idea what I was talking about in Chinese.)

Anyway, my point is twofold: one, I transplanted some blueberry bushes today, and also put some threadleaf coreopsis in with them (probably, idk, it's not really growing yet so I think it was coreopsis?) and now I'm very tired. Shoveling! So hard. And I've forgotten the second point, so.

Oh, it snowed while I was digging, so that was funny. (These are semi-established, dormant blueberry plants, not the sprigs I was potting last night, and the coreopsis overwintered in pots outside, so they should all be fine in the snow and the frost.) I guess I should go bring in the houseplants.

Genuinely do not remember what else I was going to say, but that's typical.

eta houseplant updates and the thing I forgot, which was a mug shaped like an orange )
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 09:52 pm
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, April 19, to midnight on April 20 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34498 Daily check-in poll
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 9

How are you doing?

I am OK
5 (55.6%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
4 (44.4%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
3 (33.3%)

One other person
5 (55.6%)

More than one other person
1 (11.1%)



Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Tags:
Monday, April 20th, 2026 01:25 am
Depending on how many cylinders your engine has, there's definitely a limit as to how many turbochargers you can add before things get out of hand.

Monday, April 20th, 2026 12:32 am

Posted by Charlotte Colombo

woman shares store concern (l) Aritzia storefront (r)

Because Aritzia is a high-end fashion outlet, one would probably expect a VIP experience. Yet, according to one TikToker the changing rooms have a serious problem.

In the viral video, which has garnered 20,800 views, Koryn (@lenny.and.zelda) spoke directly to the fashion brand. “This is a genuine question for Aritzia,” she said. “Why do you allow men in the change room?”

Sunday, April 19th, 2026 11:00 pm

Posted by Samuel Pepys

(Easter day). Up and this day put on my close-kneed coloured suit, which, with new stockings of the colour, with belt, and new gilt-handled sword, is very handsome.

To church alone, and so to dinner, where my father and brother Tom dined with us, and after dinner to church again, my father sitting below in the chancel. After church done, where the young Scotchman preaching I slept all the while, my father and I to see my uncle and aunt Wight, and after a stay of an hour there my father to my brother’s and I home to supper, and after supper fell in discourse of dancing, and I find that Ashwell hath a very fine carriage, which makes my wife almost ashamed of herself to see herself so outdone, but to-morrow she begins to learn to dance for a month or two.

So to prayers and to bed. Will being gone, with my leave, to his father’s this day for a day or two, to take physique these holydays.

Read the annotations

Monday, April 20th, 2026 12:25 am
Towing can put your vehicle under a great deal of stress. But does that mean that you'll have to deal with oil changes more often, among other things?

Sunday, April 19th, 2026 07:28 pm
Scientists just solved a 160-million-year fossil mystery “I’ve never seen anything like it”

A rare fossil reveals that Earth’s earliest sponges were hiding in plain sight—too soft to leave a trace.

A rare fossil discovery is shedding light on the “missing years” of early sponge evolution. Scientists found a 550-million-year-old sponge that likely lacked hard skeletal parts, explaining why earlier fossils are so scarce. This supports the idea that the earliest sponges were soft-bodied and rarely preserved. The finding changes how researchers hunt for the origins of animal life.



Well, that was obvious. Soft organisms typically predate those with rigid parts that preserve better. It's still really cool to find evidence.
Sunday, April 19th, 2026 08:00 pm
Thanks to neighbors moving out of their apartments, not only do I have enough laundry pods to last at least another six months, I've got more lentils than I know what to do with. No, really. There's six kinds of lentils in my apartment right now, not counting the dried chickpeas, unroasted peanuts, and dried red beans. It's going to be the summer of lentils. My strategy's going to be to work through the smaller amounts first before moving onto the larger ones - there's enough red lentils for one or two meals, but the green ones will keep me fed for weeks.

I'm checking the usual websites, looking through my cookbook shelf, thinking of how to make them interesting and palatable when I'll be eating so much of them. I figure that once I'm done with Rome, a dive through the rest of Steven Spielberg's movies should be good enough distraction to carry the lentils those last few days when I don't want to pay too much attention to what I'm having for lunch.

I've also got some quinoa and rice and black soybeans, if I want to shake things up somewhat. Farro, too, down in a bag somewhere.