Poetry Fishbowl Report for July 15, 2025
28/8/25 23:18![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis session's theme was "anything goes." I wrote from 1 PM to 4 AM, so about 11 hours, allowing for lunch and supper breaks. I wrote 3 poems on Tuesday and another 7 later in the week.
Participation was lower, with 7 comments on LiveJournal and another 23 on Dreamwidth. A total of 10 people sent prompts.
Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Beautiful, Damn Hard, Increasingly Useful"
"Fed from So Many Sources"
"The Future by Consequence, the Past by Redemption"
"In Effigy"
"Strong, Competent, Capable"
Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from July 15. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.
This session's donors include:janetmiles, siliconshaman, and bairnsidhe. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 0 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.
The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.
Participation was lower, with 7 comments on LiveJournal and another 23 on Dreamwidth. A total of 10 people sent prompts.
Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Beautiful, Damn Hard, Increasingly Useful"
"Fed from So Many Sources"
"The Future by Consequence, the Past by Redemption"
"In Effigy"
"Strong, Competent, Capable"
Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from July 15. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.
This session's donors include:
janetmiles, siliconshaman, and bairnsidhe. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 0 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.
some non-fiction books
28/8/25 23:52jadelennoxMostly these days I'm reading fun romances because, you know, everything. But here's two exceptions:
I am not a good reader for non-fiction American history doorstoppers, but I picked up from the library Charles Sumner : conscience of a nation by Zaakir Tameez entirely on the strength of Jamelle Bouie's interview with the author, which intrigued me. And the book was really great, hard recommend. Also very apropos for the moment, in both inspiring and disturbing ways.
About 10 pages in I was thinking, was Sumner autistic? and then shortly afterward Tameez mentions the same speculation. And it's very much written as Sumner's neuroatypicality basically being one of the reasons we had Reconstruction at all -- while all the other Republicans (laudatory) in Washington were thinking about what was achievable, about the next election, not being rude to their more conservative friends, doing whatever centrist compromise David Shor and James Carville told them to do, Sumner was just blowing it all up to do what was right. The man was nearly beaten to death, and he knew the beatdown was coming. He just kept yelling about human rights and civil rights on the senate floor (using those very words), alienating all his closest friends, pissing off President Lincoln, and giving no quarter. And sometimes he was an asshole, clearly; and sometimes he was very much in the wrong. But still. We could use a morally uncompromising neuroatypical asshole senator right now.
Anyway, great book.
I also ILL'd The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, which I never read in high school. And wow, so glad I read it. I picked it up because it was referenced in an article about GenAI, but what I kept thinking as I read is how much all this oldey-timey historical eugenics has come roaring back. The confluence shouldn't have surprised me, because the GenAI weirdos and the eugenicists all travel in the same circles at the very least, and are often the exact same people.
Anyway, very well written, except it took me a while because so much racism. Also the fun thing about living near Harvard is that in any book about American historical upper-crust shittiness, you're going to keep reading about utterly loathsome people while thinking "and that one's a street! and that one's an elementary school!" (Also, "Carl Sagan named a book after this asshole? Really?")
To be fair the elementary school got renamed 20 years ago. I'm apparently now my dad. You know, "turn off where route 99 used to be" and "I'll meet you at Scollay Under".
(CW: Gould is both writing in 1981, and his method of argument is to say, basically, okay even if I take these racist assholes at face value, let me show that their science is shit and their data are nonsense. Which means he restates a lot of the racist and eugenicist arguments—and prints a few of their illustrations—so their racism is present in the book. It's not a style of presenting racism that a history of science book would use today, I believe. Gould is clearly repeating the racist arguments in order to refute them, it's just that he's slow and methodical in the refutations.)
Unsold Poems for the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
28/8/25 22:59ysabetwordsmithThe following poems from the July 15, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."
"Finding the Gold of the Spirit"
Summary: Shiv grudgingly attends a group therapy session to talk about the chayne incident.
410 lines, Buy It Now = $205
Shiv was so not looking forward to this.
Dr. G had talked him into it, though, and
was paying handsomely for the favor,
so Shiv would give it a fair try.
"The Four Marks of True Repentance"
Story Date: Monday, August 13, 2013
Summary: Three former child soldiers move to America.
953 lines, Buy It Now = $477
It had taken just over a month
for them to reach America.
"Indicative of the Extent"
Story Date: Morning of Monday, May 30, 2016 in Taiji, Japan
Summary: Aquariana helps clean up after the tsunami in Taiji, Japan.
259 lines, Buy It Now = $130
Aquariana woke feeling tired,
but not as exhausted as she
had felt when she went to bed.
"The Well-being of All Our People"
Summary: When bandits attack a caravan, Menachem and Yossele defend their fellow travelers.
69 lines, Buy It Now = $35
Menachem and Yossele
had joined a small caravan of
tradesmen and other travelers.
"Finding the Gold of the Spirit"
Summary: Shiv grudgingly attends a group therapy session to talk about the chayne incident.
410 lines, Buy It Now = $205
Shiv was so not looking forward to this.
Dr. G had talked him into it, though, and
was paying handsomely for the favor,
so Shiv would give it a fair try.
"The Four Marks of True Repentance"
Story Date: Monday, August 13, 2013
Summary: Three former child soldiers move to America.
953 lines, Buy It Now = $477
It had taken just over a month
for them to reach America.
"Indicative of the Extent"
Story Date: Morning of Monday, May 30, 2016 in Taiji, Japan
Summary: Aquariana helps clean up after the tsunami in Taiji, Japan.
259 lines, Buy It Now = $130
Aquariana woke feeling tired,
but not as exhausted as she
had felt when she went to bed.
"The Well-being of All Our People"
Summary: When bandits attack a caravan, Menachem and Yossele defend their fellow travelers.
69 lines, Buy It Now = $35
Menachem and Yossele
had joined a small caravan of
tradesmen and other travelers.
thewayneThere are a couple of problems with recycling plastics. The biggest is that an overwhelmingly vast amount of it doesn't get recycled. It mostly doesn't matter that we separate it out into its own little bin, there are few actual plastic recycling centers. For the most part it still goes to the dump. Sometimes it may get separated into its different classes and baled and sold on for reuse, but that's actually pretty rare.
The other part is that it takes forever - almost literally - for plastics to break down in the environment. And I'm not even going to talk about microplastics in the environment - and in our bodies and in the bodies of pretty much every living creature! Plastic is pretty perfidious stuff. But hey! It made the petroleum industry billions of dollars, so it can't be all bad, can it?
Well. Scientists have developed a process in which PVC can be used to create "chlorine-free fuel range hydrocarbons and [hydrochloric acid] in a single-stage process," the researchers said. Reported conversion efficiencies underscore the potential for real-world use. At 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), the process reached 95 percent conversion for soft PVC pipes and 99 percent for rigid PVC pipes and PVC wires."
Now, PVC isn't the only plastic out there, but it's a beginning. And if you can reclaim the PVC cladding from wires, you're also now in a position to recycle the now-clean copper in the wire! Twofer!
Very interesting, especially since the process is at a - relatively-speaking - room temperature environment. Increasing the process temperature to 80c/176f, decidedly above room temperature, only increased the efficiency to 96%. Perhaps some discoveries can raise the efficiency or lower the temperature, but that temperature increase I think the energy cost is going to ruin the yield savings.
Obviously there are lots of philosophical, ethical, ecological, etc. issues to consider. If we can increase recycling, we decrease the amount of plastics in the environment, which could decrease the amount of microplastics therein - but are we already at or too far beyond that tipping point? We'd also be decreasing the need for the amount of oil being pumped out of the ground. We don't know the costs of this process, it sounds like it would be pretty expensive, but we also don't know the yield: gross pounds in for barrels out. And would an improvement in the production of petroleum/gasoline decrease demand for EVs, which are decidedly better for the environment?
Lots of things to consider, I'm sure a lot more than I've posited.
https://interestingengineering.com/science/us-china-turn-plastic-to-petrol
https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/27/2258214/worlds-first-1-step-method-turns-plastic-into-fuel-at-95-efficiency
The other part is that it takes forever - almost literally - for plastics to break down in the environment. And I'm not even going to talk about microplastics in the environment - and in our bodies and in the bodies of pretty much every living creature! Plastic is pretty perfidious stuff. But hey! It made the petroleum industry billions of dollars, so it can't be all bad, can it?
Well. Scientists have developed a process in which PVC can be used to create "chlorine-free fuel range hydrocarbons and [hydrochloric acid] in a single-stage process," the researchers said. Reported conversion efficiencies underscore the potential for real-world use. At 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius), the process reached 95 percent conversion for soft PVC pipes and 99 percent for rigid PVC pipes and PVC wires."
Now, PVC isn't the only plastic out there, but it's a beginning. And if you can reclaim the PVC cladding from wires, you're also now in a position to recycle the now-clean copper in the wire! Twofer!
Very interesting, especially since the process is at a - relatively-speaking - room temperature environment. Increasing the process temperature to 80c/176f, decidedly above room temperature, only increased the efficiency to 96%. Perhaps some discoveries can raise the efficiency or lower the temperature, but that temperature increase I think the energy cost is going to ruin the yield savings.
Obviously there are lots of philosophical, ethical, ecological, etc. issues to consider. If we can increase recycling, we decrease the amount of plastics in the environment, which could decrease the amount of microplastics therein - but are we already at or too far beyond that tipping point? We'd also be decreasing the need for the amount of oil being pumped out of the ground. We don't know the costs of this process, it sounds like it would be pretty expensive, but we also don't know the yield: gross pounds in for barrels out. And would an improvement in the production of petroleum/gasoline decrease demand for EVs, which are decidedly better for the environment?
Lots of things to consider, I'm sure a lot more than I've posited.
https://interestingengineering.com/science/us-china-turn-plastic-to-petrol
https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/27/2258214/worlds-first-1-step-method-turns-plastic-into-fuel-at-95-efficiency
thewayneWell, I think the subject pretty much says it all. A monitor doesn't have to be connected to the internet, and I can't really fathom why it would be aside from functionality like this. I don't think HDMI cables convey IP information. TVs: everyone wants you to connect their TV into to your WiFi so they can monetize what you're watching: LG makes more money off the data they collect from your viewing patterns than they do selling TVs!
You can "sign in to Microsoft for more personalized results". Or you can buy a different brand. And if you use a streaming device and DVD/BR player for your viewing, you don't have to buy a TV: you can buy a nice monitor and just ignore all the connectivity stuff. Or just not connect the WiFi, I've no idea if it will repeatedly beg you to connect to the mothership. My Sony BR player has Netflix and YouTube connectivity, but alas, it's not connected to my router in any fashion: I can access those through my Apple TV if I so desire.
Samsung has never been high on my list of preferred vendors, though I do have a nice little B&W Samsung laser printer that I bought just before HP finalized the purchase of Samsung's printer division.
https://www.theverge.com/news/767078/microsoft-samsung-tv-copilot-ai-assistant-launch
You can "sign in to Microsoft for more personalized results". Or you can buy a different brand. And if you use a streaming device and DVD/BR player for your viewing, you don't have to buy a TV: you can buy a nice monitor and just ignore all the connectivity stuff. Or just not connect the WiFi, I've no idea if it will repeatedly beg you to connect to the mothership. My Sony BR player has Netflix and YouTube connectivity, but alas, it's not connected to my router in any fashion: I can access those through my Apple TV if I so desire.
Samsung has never been high on my list of preferred vendors, though I do have a nice little B&W Samsung laser printer that I bought just before HP finalized the purchase of Samsung's printer division.
https://www.theverge.com/news/767078/microsoft-samsung-tv-copilot-ai-assistant-launch
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Alas 😔
28/8/25 20:12soc_puppetOkay, time for me to be realistic: With classes starting again and homework being A Thing already, I need to not push myself to finish my second Sot69 fic for this year.
I want to finish it! I do! And I want to have at least one more thing done for Sot69 this year! But if I push myself, I'm pretty sure that things won't go well. Even with no class or work on Monday, there's no guarantee that'd be enough recovery time for me, especially with Saturday now my only guaranteed day of the week with neither class nor work.
I think I'll probably at least try to get the outline I have typed up. (Actually, now that I think about it, that might even be a good entry for the final theme of Failed 69!) But I'm not going to pressure myself into writing the whole thing.
The important thing is, even if I don't finish it by September 6th, I can still finish it in the future!
I want to finish it! I do! And I want to have at least one more thing done for Sot69 this year! But if I push myself, I'm pretty sure that things won't go well. Even with no class or work on Monday, there's no guarantee that'd be enough recovery time for me, especially with Saturday now my only guaranteed day of the week with neither class nor work.
I think I'll probably at least try to get the outline I have typed up. (Actually, now that I think about it, that might even be a good entry for the final theme of Failed 69!) But I'm not going to pressure myself into writing the whole thing.
The important thing is, even if I don't finish it by September 6th, I can still finish it in the future!
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Water
28/8/25 19:46ysabetwordsmithLiving near the ocean might actually help you live longer, new study finds
The researchers analyzed population data, including life expectancy, of more than 66,000 census tracts throughout the United States, comparing numbers baked on proximity to waterways.
They found that living within miles of the ocean breeze may be linked to a longer life, but that the same benefits don’t apply for living in a riverside city (Sorry, Chicago).
The researchers analyzed population data, including life expectancy, of more than 66,000 census tracts throughout the United States, comparing numbers baked on proximity to waterways.
They found that living within miles of the ocean breeze may be linked to a longer life, but that the same benefits don’t apply for living in a riverside city (Sorry, Chicago).
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An Unfamiliar Village (part 1 of 1, complete)
28/8/25 20:17dialecticdreamerAn Unfamiliar Village
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 2219
[End of March 179-]
:: Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::
Three hours later, just as the horses were beginning to flag, the road opened out into a narrow, high valley, the sides so steep that sheets of stone peeked among the scrub clinging to small ledges. The houses canted at odd angles to the road, and small truck gardens formed divisions between one family’s yard and another. Small coops and pens offered room for half a dozen hens, and a few families had given over the space leading to their front door entirely for flowers. Some were budding, and a few were already blooming.
Trokhym scanned ahead, then pointed to a one-story building only slightly larger than some of the best houses that they had passed. Unlike most, the roof was slate, and pitched to cover a wide, irregular footprint.
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 2219
[End of March 179-]
:: Part of the “Lost Son” story arc in the Frankenstein’s Family universe. ::
Three hours later, just as the horses were beginning to flag, the road opened out into a narrow, high valley, the sides so steep that sheets of stone peeked among the scrub clinging to small ledges. The houses canted at odd angles to the road, and small truck gardens formed divisions between one family’s yard and another. Small coops and pens offered room for half a dozen hens, and a few families had given over the space leading to their front door entirely for flowers. Some were budding, and a few were already blooming.
Trokhym scanned ahead, then pointed to a one-story building only slightly larger than some of the best houses that they had passed. Unlike most, the roof was slate, and pitched to cover a wide, irregular footprint.
( Read more... )
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Comics: Jack Kirby Day
28/8/25 18:00Migration complete
28/8/25 21:09madfilkentistThe migration of garymcgath.com to DreamHost is complete, and everything seems to be working. There were some glitches, as they always are, but the support people were very helpful. Unlike the ones at HostGator, which I am now rid of.
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Forthcoming RIP: the Typepad blogging service
28/8/25 13:28thewayneAt the end of September, Typepad goes dark. And with it, all of the blogs that have been accumulated over the last 22 years.
Interestingly, their front page has buttons for Start Now and Pricing & Sign Up, but they stopped taking new accounts several years ago while reassuring then-current users that the service would continue on. At least until the end of September.
Their Need Help? page has info about the shutdown, including refunds for people who have paid beyond the shutdown date and information on exporting your blog.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/one-time-wordpress-competitor-typepad-ends-its-slide-into-obscurity-by-shutting-down/
Interestingly, their front page has buttons for Start Now and Pricing & Sign Up, but they stopped taking new accounts several years ago while reassuring then-current users that the service would continue on. At least until the end of September.
Their Need Help? page has info about the shutdown, including refunds for people who have paid beyond the shutdown date and information on exporting your blog.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/one-time-wordpress-competitor-typepad-ends-its-slide-into-obscurity-by-shutting-down/
Birdfeeding
28/8/25 13:18ysabetwordsmithToday is partly sunny and mild.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I planted 2 yellow Harvest of Memories and 2 red War Chief irises under the maple tree at the edge of the house yard.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I watered the irises.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I did some work around the patio.
I saw a squirrel up a tree lashing its tail.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I planted 2 yellow Harvest of Memories and 2 red War Chief irises under the maple tree at the edge of the house yard.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I watered the irises.
EDIT 8/28/25 -- I did some work around the patio.
I saw a squirrel up a tree lashing its tail.
As it is now dark, I am done for the night.
purplecatThe award winning paper I mentioned next week, actually had a sequel. In The human factor: Addressing computing risks for critical national infrastructure towards 2040 we performed a similar exercise of asking a number of experts about risks to Critical National Infrastructure arising from computing developments and synthesising the results.
I am honestly, happier with this paper, I thought we had a better range of genuine expertise in the people we talked to, and a more focused area of consideration. We had a little trouble with the third referee, who thought our experts were wrong about Quantum Computing and that we should rewrite the paper so they gave the answer the referee thought was correct. Our experts did not think Quantum Computing was among the biggest risks to be considered in the next 15 years - but instead thought there were a number of issues relating to human factors (sophisticated phishing, difficulty tracing the cause of problems and poor incident response in complex situations).
I am honestly, happier with this paper, I thought we had a better range of genuine expertise in the people we talked to, and a more focused area of consideration. We had a little trouble with the third referee, who thought our experts were wrong about Quantum Computing and that we should rewrite the paper so they gave the answer the referee thought was correct. Our experts did not think Quantum Computing was among the biggest risks to be considered in the next 15 years - but instead thought there were a number of issues relating to human factors (sophisticated phishing, difficulty tracing the cause of problems and poor incident response in complex situations).
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Standards for signing up with ICE are so low
30/8/25 06:54conulymaybe it makes sense to undermine them from within? Oh, where's the sabotage manual when I want it?
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( Read more... )
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conulyPoll #33546 Left handers unite!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 41
Which are you?
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Artificial Intelligence
28/8/25 01:32
Hobbies: Photography
28/8/25 00:16ysabetwordsmithFolks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.
Photography is a hobby of taking pictures, and sometimes editing or printing them. Nowadays it can be film or digital.
On Dreamwidth, consider communities like![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
justcreate, adventuringaperture, knittingpix, crafty, photocons, or threeforthememories.
( Read more... )
Photography is a hobby of taking pictures, and sometimes editing or printing them. Nowadays it can be film or digital.
On Dreamwidth, consider communities like
justcreate, adventuringaperture, knittingpix, crafty, photocons, or threeforthememories.( Read more... )
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