drcpunk

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

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

Current Mood: ecstatic

Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

( Read more... )

Current Mood: happy

Tags:

Posted by Bruce Schneier

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/07/friday-squid-blogging-how-squid-skin-distorts-light.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=70434

New research.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/07/friday-squid-blogging-how-squid-skin-distorts-light.html

https://www.schneier.com/?p=70434

In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.

.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

We will grill burgers and corn for dinner. I'm making potato salad right now and an apple pie later. Fireworks have been going off in my neighborhood for the last two weeks, tonight will just be more and louder. I don't feel like pretty colors and sparkles are the vibe right now, personally. I'm keeping my big feelings in check with the usual suspects: SF/F fandom, K-pop fandom, Chinese costume dramas, games on my Switch, music from around the world, trips to the ocean, dreaming of future travel.

I highly recommend K-pop Demon Hunters on Netflix to any of my friends who like animated movies and have been subjected to my ravings of the past three years. It's really fun, has catchy music, and you might find yourself recognizing some of the details of being a K-pop fan...or a demon hunter, I don't know all your secrets.

John brought up a box of fanzines I've been keeping since the 80s and I don't recognize the top half of them. I am not sure if they're unusual and therefore something to put out on a fan table somewhere as freebies, I assume not, but I'm not throwing them out. It's just one box. I was expecting to feel nostalgia, but instead I just feel distanced from my own history. Huh. Well, maybe down at the bottom I'll see stuff from my friends. I have no idea why I collected these.

For those at BayCon this weekend I hope you have a great time!

Tags:

Jay Kuo takes a break from chronicling the regime's crimes to share some honest hope for today, and the days and months ahead:

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/celebrating-independence

Tags:

political

https://xkcd.com/3111/

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

Current Mood: determined

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

Current Mood: pensive

Ninety years after her grandmother's family was stalked by a witch, international student Minerva Contrera's studies land her in a similar position.

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Tags:

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

Current Mood: amused

Today's theme is Historical Fiction.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

I embrace new tools. In Fabula Ultima, for example, the order in which characters go in combat varies. I found it hard to keep track of who'd gone, so I went out and got poker chips and little round labels. Now, I can just toss the chips representing characters into a bowl once they've gone. Order!

OK, except it turns out I can't tell blue from green under the ceiling light in the room where I DM and the names on the labels need to be bigger.

FireSmart Canada is pleased to release Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire
Stewardship, a beautiful, bound publication that recognizes the contributions to wildfire
prevention of Indigenous communities in Canada.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

So, I messed up my cut tag earlier. Today, I was celebrating a good day. As I mentioned, I had a good self-statement that I sent to my attorney, and nothing succeeds like success. I'm using RSO, a potent form of marijuana for pain control (NB: which is legal in the state of Washington), and it's helping, and having a honeymoon effect.

And someone said that "we need to write something about the big bad fugly bill, like, Bad Bad Leroy Brown.

It was like waking up. My creative brain could write an utterly obnoxious filk song to the tune of Jim Croce's hit.

I doubt the copyright notice is enforceable - it was a social experiment to see what would happen. I happen to think the tune is quite catchy.

Please note, if you're a fan of Donald Trump, you do not want to read the following. Fair warning, if you ignore it, it's your bad, not mine, if you get upset.

( read more, if you choose. )

Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I refilled the thistle feeder. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I took a few more pictures around the yard, mostly flowers at the end of the driveway.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I dug up three pots of wild senna and one of purple echinacea that had seeded themselves in the savanna, hopefully to transplant them elsewhere if they survive.

I've seen a pair of mourning doves and a gray catbird. I also saw a very large bird, possibly a vulture or eagle, flying over the field to the west.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- We hooked up the new, flat water hose. The "non-kinking" label is a complete lie; it is the most prone to kinking of any hose I've ever used. Straightening it out enough to work is a bitch. However, it is extremely lightweight and completely flexible, so those are pluses. Also the multifunction water wand is by far the best nozzles I've ever used. I favor with "shower" and "flat" functions the most. The new picnic table garden and septic garden have been thoroughly watered.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I watered the old picnic table garden and the plants in the house yard.

The corn is tasseling. The pollen hangs heavy on the wind with a sweet, dusty, buttery, golden smell.

Fireflies are coming out.

I saw a skunk in the house yard. I've seen a squirrel at the hopper feeder.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

When rainforests died, the planet caught fire: New clues from Earth’s greatest extinction

When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, CO₂ rocketed, and a five-million-year heatwave followed. Fossils from China and clever climate models now link that botanical wipe-out to runaway warming, hinting that losing today’s tropical forests could lock us in a furnace we can’t easily cool.

I pointed this out decades ago and nobody listened. Now here we are. But hey, someone could roll up this newspaper and beat Brazil with it.

Current Mood: busy

Tags:

Philosophical Questions: Government

Twice in one day

Fireworks

Friday Squid Blogging: How Squid Skin Distorts Light

Writing About Fireworks

Birdfeeding

Holiday

July 4th

Artificial Gravity

"The Opposite of War Isn't Peace, It's Creation"

Two For The Fourth

The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

"Away, you three inch fool!"

Follow Friday 7-4-25: Historical Fiction

Every time I run something

Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship

Whew...

(no subject)

Birdfeeding

Climate Change

Profile

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags