I don't mind the obligations - I'm genuinely looking forward to some of them - but the timing would have me choose between cooking into the evening or working on writing, and I'm pleased I won't have to make that call.
I don't mind the obligations - I'm genuinely looking forward to some of them - but the timing would have me choose between cooking into the evening or working on writing, and I'm pleased I won't have to make that call.
Fandom: Miami Vice
Author: Cat Moon
Rating: PG
Words: 1307
Characters/Pairings: Trudy, Sonny, Sonny/Rico
Summary: After Rico and Sonny are gone from Miami, Trudy finds things unexpectedly coming full circle. Some bonds are forever.
Notes: Thanks to

( Choices of the Heart )
This was the last-published book in the Patternist series, but the third one I've read, as I'm following the suggested chronological reading order. I was warned that in this reading order it's totally opaque how this book relates to the others, which certainly is the case! The only apparent connection is Clay Dana, a minor character from Mind of My Mind who is said in this book to have invented interstellar travel using his psionic abilities. But the other characters don't seem to be aware of the telepathic Patternists as a group, so it seems that in the intervening decades they've managed to continue influencing society without fully revealing themselves.
Reading it basically as a stand-alone, the book seems to be about what it means to be human. It questions the dichotomy of human and monster, as the "ordinary" humans of the lawless desert prove more brutal and violent than the infected half-aliens are. The characters assume that allowing the pathogen to spread across Earth would be a bad thing, but when you see what human society is becoming, you wonder if altering more people's nature might be an improvement.
I felt that the book was too long, which is surprising at just over 200 pages. The characters are strongly written (as expected from Butler) but I think there might be too many of them, and sometimes the same events are needlessly reiterated from multiple POVs. I also had trouble with the level of violence. I didn't think it was gratuitous since it seemed necessary for the book to make its thematic points as I understood them; violence is just hard for me to read and there's a lot of it here, including rape and the constant threat of rape.
It'll be interesting to see how my perspective changes once I've read the whole series and seen what readers knew of the Patternist universe when these prequels were published. Worth noting that I will indeed be reading Survivor, a book in the series that's been out of print for ages because Butler apparently hated it. Very curious about that one.
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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.
My partner Doug mentioned it tonight, and I had only seen it in Scrabble dictionaries. Try to lay that one over a triple word score. It's 8 letters but you can build it onto quid, id, dit, or it.
Dessa teamed up with the beverage wizards at Flavor Pixels on a THC seltzer: "We F*cking Love Our Neighbors," an Earl Grey and Cardamom hemp-derived seltzer (5mg THC, 5mg CBD). 100% of beverage profits from the collaboration will benefit the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. Available on April 20th at Twin Cities liquor stores including:
Minneapolis McDonald’s Liquor & Wine Ombibulous France 44 Stinson South Lyndale Liquor Electric Fetus Bench Pressed Dabbler Depot Golden Valley Golden Valley Liquor Down in the Valley St Paul Wine Thief & Ale Jail Marshall Liquor Dabbler Depot Crystal Wine Thief & Ale Jail
The post THC beverage collab with Flavor Pixels appeared first on Dessa.
Instructions and template are here
“Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it is a common lot this morning. Mrs Hudson has been knocked up, she retorted upon me, and I on you.”
Consider this your knock-up.
When cities expand their boundaries, they aren’t just adding land, they’re taking on decades of financial obligations that short-term metrics fail to capture.
( Read more... )
Author:
Fandom: Cal Leandros
Characters: Cal, Robin
Rating: PG
Warning(s): Mild language, first person pov (Cal's)
Word count: 100
Disclaimer: Characters are the property of Rob Thurman, et al. This drabble/fic was written for fun, not for profit.
Written for:
Summary: A Trickster is as a Trickster does.
Tricksters and Fools
*Unless I get distracted by something along the way, as often happens.
The best/worst lists are hidden in case you want to preserve the element of surprise.
The 10 best episodes according to IMDB, starting at the top
1. Severed Dreams 3x10
2. War Without End Part 2 3x17 (Since Part 1 is also in the top 10, I'm just going to watch them together, I think)
3. Z'ha'dum 3x22
4. Endgame 4x20
5. Sleeping in Light 5x22
6. The Long, Twilight Struggle 2x20 (By about this point I will probably have died of Drama and Tragedy. RIP me.)
7. Point of No Return 3x09
8. The Coming of Shadows 2x09
9. The Fall of Night 2x22
10. War Without End Part 1 3x16 (will be combined with part 2)
11. No Surrender, No Retreat 4x15
This looks fun! (For Babylon 5 values of fun.)
And as an escape from all of these heavy episodes, apparently I will be watching, in order of worst to ... slightly less worst:
IMDB's lowest rated
1. TKO 1x142. Infection 1x04
3. Secrets of the Soul 5x07
4. The Gathering 1x00
5. Grey 17 is Missing 3x19
6. Grail 1x15
7. The Long Dark 2x05
8. Strange Relations 5x06
9. The War Prayer 1x07
10. Survivors 1x11
Genuinely surprised that they're not even all from season one and five! Absolutely unsurprised that most of them are! I do genuinely like some of these, and at least one of them, I skipped most of when I was originally watching season one, so it will be interesting to see what I think of it now.
Not starting this tonight (probably) because I have other things to do, but Soon™.
Because there are so many excellent entries of interest to Language Log readers in various fields, I am including all of those in this extensive list;
- "Genetic History of Scythia." Andreeva, Tatiana V. et al. Science Advances 11, no. 30 (July 25, 2025): eads8179. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads8179. Updated 27 March 2026.
- "Decoding Parrot Duets: Complex Communication in Yellow-Naped Amazons." Dahlin, Christine R. et al. Journal of Avian Biology 2026, no. 1 (February 12, 2026): e03552. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jav.03552.
- "The Dual Formative *tsi in Tibeto-Burman Languages." DeLancey, Scott. Himalayan Linguistics 25, no. 1 (March 3, 2026). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/92z910mm.
- "Lexical Richness in the Speech of Mandarin Chinese for L2 Learners." Hao, Yuxin et al. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 13, no. 1 (April 9, 2026): 437. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-06566-9.
- "Biomechanics and Evolution of the Primate Tongue." Sekhavati, Yeganeh et al. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews 35, no. 2 (April 2, 2026): e70026. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/evan.70026.
- "One Test, Many Tongues: Surveying Language Proficiency across the Globe." Van Rijn, Pol et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 123, no. 13 (March 27, 2026): e2420179123. https://pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2420179123.
- "Enduring Constraints on Grammar Revealed by Bayesian Spatiophylogenetic Analyses." Verkerk, Annemarie et al. Nature Human Behaviour 10, no. 1 (November 17, 2025): 126-136. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-025-02325-z.
- "Social Perception of Creaky Voice in Mandarin Chinese: Everyone's Gender Matters." Yao, Yao et al. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (March 27, 2026). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-026-07108-z.
[Thanks to:
Edward M "Ted" McClure, Librarian
https://patreon.com/Bluehorse887
https://researchbuzz.masto.host/@Bluehorse
Contact email: KameoDouglas@gmail.com
AO3 username:Kameo (Brainygiirl)Treat preference: I would never say no.
I will create:
A fanwork of the following type(s): fic
In one or more of the following parts of fandom: Doyle - Canon; Sherlock BBC
For one or more of the following characters or relationships: Sherlock Holmes/JohnWatson
I like working with one or more of the following categories: Fluff; Romance; Hurt/Comfort; Established Relationship; First Time; Drug Addiction;
With any of the following ratings: 1) suitable for general audiences; 2) non-explicit sexual content; 3) explicit sexual content; 4) mild to moderate violence or depictions of non-sexual mature themes; 5) depictions of non-sexual mature themes
I am willing to create for the following squicks and/or kinks: Bdsm; pretty much any kink; dubcon; alcohol/drug abuse; self-harm; only bottom/sub Sherlock; only top/dom John Watson. I LOVE 221Bs and a collection of five, related or standalone, would be ideal for me.
I want to receive:
A fanwork of the following type(s): art, fic, vids, graphics, podfic
In one or more of the following parts of fandom: Sherlock BBC; Canon;
For one or more of the following characters or relationships: Johnlock;
I like stuff in the following categories: . Post-Reichenbach; Romance; Hurt/Comfort; Established Relationship; Humor; First Time; Drug Addiction; Bondage
With any of the following ratings: 1) suitable for general audiences; 2) non-explicit sexual content; 3) explicit sexual content; 4) mild to moderate violence or depictions of non-sexual mature themes; 5) depictions of non-sexual mature themes
I wouldn’t mind any of the following squicks and/or kinks: dubcon; bdsm; almost any kink; alcohol/drug abuse; self-harm;
Please include further details about what you’d like to receive: Dom John Watson/sub sherlock is my jam. I don’t need all that much plot but intense and filthy will make me happy.
Special requests: Sweet and gentle Dominance and submission


I’ve been to Hungary twice, most recently a couple of years ago when I was the guest of honor at the Budapest International Book Festival. Both times I was there I (and when she visited with me, Krissy), were made to feel welcome by nearly everyone we met there. It’s fair to say I have an attachment to the country.
Today, with a turnout of over 77%, the voters of Hungary voted out the autocratic government of Viktor Orban, whose 16-year rule saw the country become less free, less tolerant and more corrupt. Getting back from all of that won’t be easy and won’t be fast — but it all has to start somewhere, and now Hungary can start.
To which I can say: Lord, I see what you have done for others and want it for myself, and hopefully, soon.
In the meantime: Congratulations to my friends in Hungary. I hope what you have is catching. And I hope to visit you again, in this new era of yours.
— JS
Saturday, on the other hand, has officially become Baldur's Gate day. (Although the Wednesday I have to take off for Hotelpocalypse, I'm hoping to steam it and check into the Elfsong afterwards. But now I'm at the Sarevok Anchev fight, and I spent two hours yesterday struggling to win it. I finally went and fought the guards separately, and I think with them out, I might be able to win it by putting the party on the side ledge at the start of it. Maybe even skip the dialog and start it with an AOE spell.
This morning I streamed episodes 4-5 of Dispatch. Gameplay wasn't very good, but it was still my most successful stream yet. But I also found myself really wishing I could romance Phenonaman. I'm romancing Blonde Blazer, and that's all well and good, but seriously, I *love* this guy.