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ysabetwordsmith
james_davis_nicoll
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cakewrecks_feedWoohoo!! National Punctuation Day is coming!
You know what to do!
I stand corrected.
Bakers, contrary to popular belief, those curved thingies are not sideways "happy hugs" for your text; they're parentheses. But I'll make this easy for you: YOU WILL NEVER NEED PARENTHESES ON YOUR CAKES. So don't use them. Ever.
No, not even for a name in all caps.
And not for anniversaries, either.
Gosh. I bet "Mom" is really feeling like part of the family right now.
Which brings me to my next point:
STOP IT WITH THE QUOTATION MARKS ALREADY.
Why are these numbers in quotes? Are they euphemisms or something? Are these people not really 13 and 59? And why does this keep happening, anyway?
Oh.
Thanks to Monica, Debb D., Tamara M., Alyssa V., Amy C., Rachel C., and Aurora C. for helping me cover parentheses and quotation marks. Tomorrow: COLONS! (You'll have to check back to see which kind.)
*****
P.S. And here's the official t-shirt of National Punctuation Day:
Punctuation Saves Lives
Proof that educating can also be entertaining!
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
sistawendy
james_davis_nicollWhich 2015 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
13 (61.9%)
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
6 (28.6%)
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta
5 (23.8%)
The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
3 (14.3%)
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
9 (42.9%)
The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
10 (47.6%)
andrewduckerysabetwordsmith conulyysabetwordsmith chopwood_carrywater_feed
Hi, all, and happy Sunday!
We’ve made it through another (mostly hellish) week! As your reward for staying in the fight here’s your list of everything GOOD, at least politically speaking, I could find that happened in the last 7 days. As usual, it’s more than you’d think!
These wonderful things happened because people like you persisted, resisted, and kept working despite the odds. So enjoy savoring these wins, then get ready to make more tomorrow!
Have a beautiful day, friends!
I found out about a whole newsletter devoted to Good Queer News! Fantastic!
After Trump administration cuts forced the popular climate.gov website to shut down, experts re-launched it independently to help boost climate literacy.
Four U.S. states issued their own vaccination guidelines for three common seasonal vaccines, the flu, COVID-19, and RSV.
A new report found that the Global Fund partnership has saved 70 million lives since 2002, reducing the combined death rate from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria by 63%.
Six schools in Tennessee joined in nationwide school walkouts that called on state and federal lawmakers to take action for gun violence prevention.
A judge blocked the Trump administration from deporting Guatemalan migrant children.
Kash Patel absolutely bombed while testifying in the House and Senate.
Thousands of protestors filled London’s streets to protest Trump’s visit.
Maurene Comey, the prosecutor in Epstein case, sued the Trump Justice Department over her abrupt firing.
An appeals court rejected Trump’s bid to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook—just in time for the rate cut meeting!
A new nature preserve in Ohio will protect 3,000 acres of Appalachian foothills.
Teachers in New Jersey are receiving student loan relief through a program created to tackle teacher shortages.
AOC has joined forces with GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis on a bill to fund Healthy Start—which provides healthcare and birthing assistance to mothers and families with young children in 39 states, Puerto Rico, and DC.
EU lawmakers have given a final green light to a law that aims to slash the mountains of food wasted in Europe each year, and curb the environmental impact of fast fashion.
California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business. Sweet!
The Yes on Prop 50 campaign has received over $20 million in small dollar contributions from all 50 states as well as large scale contributions.
An Iowa teacher who was fired after posting on social media in the wake of Charlie Kirk's shooting death is suing the school district and its superintendent.
Chippewa Valley Indivisible hit their six-month anniversary of weekly protests in Eau Claire, Wisconsin! Over 300 of them celebrated with a Wizard-of-Oz themed protest.
A judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's unlawful restrictions on certain federal housing funds. This means providers won’t be barred from competing for lifesaving resources simply because they are in jurisdictions that don’t adopt the administration's ideological agenda.
EV Realty, a San Francisco-based charging site developer, broke ground on what will be one of California’s biggest fully grid-powered, fast-charging depots for electric trucks so far.
Tax the Greedy Billionaires released new polling that found strong majorities of voters in congressional battlegrounds and key states want to raise taxes on the very rich.
Delaware is providing free school breakfast to every public school student this year due to new legislation signed into law on July 30.
Pope Leo is using his platform to condemn gross wealth inequality.
Lawmakers in California are working on a $23 billion plan to restore funding for scientific research. They want to create a state-level equivalent of the National Institutes of Health, but the plan would need to be approved by other state lawmakers and voters.
Trump’s approval is plummeting with Latino voters.
A municipal grocery store will soon open in downtown Atlanta, aiming to provide nutritional assistance to one of the city’s many food deserts.
Channel 4 welcomed Donald Trump to the U.K. with a special program: an unbroken catalogue of over 100 falsehoods, distortions and inaccuracies he’s come up with since taking office in January.
Former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was convicted and sentenced to decades in prison for attempting a coup, following his loss in the 2022 election.
The Chicago River is about to welcome swimmers back for the first time in over a hundred years.
For the first month on record, wind and solar power generated more than a third of Brazil’s electricity in August, accounting for 34% of the country’s electricity generation.
A federal judge threw out Trump’s lawsuit against the New York Times, ruling that the lawsuit “lacked any legitimate legal claims.”
The United Nations confirmed that the ozone layer is on track to make a full recovery by mid-century, crediting swift action and international agreements for sharply reducing the use of ozone-depleting chemicals and slowing the annual growth of the Antarctic ozone hole.
Democrat Xp Lee won a special election for a seat previously held by the late Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated in June, and in the process restored a tie in the Minnesota House.
A new report from advocacy group E2 finds the clean energy sector added nearly 100,000 jobs in 2024, outpacing job growth in the rest of the U.S. economy despite a slowdown from previous years.
The Iowa Utilities Commission approved a settlement that authorizes the largest utility-scale solar project in the state’s history.
California officials and industry insiders say the state is sticking with its goal of developing 25 gigawatts of floating offshore wind energy by 2045 despite expiring federal tax credits and Trump administration hostility.
In the first six months of this year, the world built 64% more new solar energy capacity than it did in the first half of 2024.
Missourians fighting the gerrymandered congressional map passed last week by Republican state lawmakers are laying the groundwork for a ballot referendum that could give voters the power to block the map from going into effect.
A giant photo of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein was put on display outside of UK's Windsor Castle ahead of Trump’s state visit.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he will seek a third term in the 2026 elections
A coalition of labor groups sued the Trump administration over what they called the use of civil rights laws as a “coercive cudgel” to attack the University of California system and the rights of union members.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court temporarily put on hold proposed new social studies standards for K-12 public school students that include conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
LGBTQ+ nominees made a strong showing at Sunday night’s 77th Annual Emmy Awards, with queer performers taking home four of the evening’s 12 acting trophies.
In August, global electric vehicle sales increased 5% month-over-month and 15% year-over-year.
A Boston church unveiled a monument to the more than 200 slaves once held by members of the congregation. The historic King’s Chapel is located along the city’s Freedom Trail, a red-brick path through the city that visits key sites in America’s revolutionary history.
Disney streaming services users are cancelling their subscriptions in droves over the suspension of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.
Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state, in what represents a significant change in government policy.
A landmark legal settlement will require a plastics facility in Pennsylvania to clean up the tiny plastic pellets — known as “nurdles” — that were found to be spewing out of its stormwater and wastewater pipes.
Texas has had a record-breaking year for solar development, in spite of federal policy shifts.
The High Seas Treaty has officially been ratified! For the first time, nations can establish marine protected areas in international waters - a critical step toward the global goal of safeguarding 30% of the ocean by 2030. HUGE!
We had an INCREDIBLE protest at Disney’s main gate on Friday. Some of the signs people brought are posted above, but you can see a lot more here.
shadowkatysabetwordsmith mdlbearA very busy week. Perhaps not quite as productive as we'd hoped. But anyway, we put down a lot of scratch tracks, and put in a total of eight hours of studio time. Some of which is definitely going to have to be re-done. Not clear how much we can salvage, but we learned a lot.
Meanwhile I re-strung Plink, in part so that I could replace the battery. I broke a wire in the process of trying (unsuccessfully) to get the new 9V battery into the clip. Thereby accelerating my long-term goal of mounting the battery outside. An ill wind, and all that. I still need to buy a new battery holder, and see if I can locate my soldering iron.
As if I didn't have enough rabbit holes to fall into, I've discovered a static (web)site generator called Hakyll. Written in Haskell. See Tuesday. I am (so far) not looking in that direction.
And as if we didn't have enough problems to throw money at, we decided to call in a plumber after the kitchen sink leaked all over the floor one time too many. He confirmed my speculation that the mess (not a rat's nest -- that's wires; maybe a can of worms) under the sink was caused by a previous owner who thought they knew what they were doing. It looks much saner now, and everything empties faster after reaming out 12m of drain. The temperature control on the first-floor shower is still broken; since all the works are inside the wall it may stay that way, unless their "old guy who knows everything" can identify the brand and point the way to a fix that doesn't involve tearing into the wall from the other side.
The best links are on Saturday this week -- these include guinea pig rental services in Switzerland and an an amazing Bohemian Rhapsody Flashmob. Although last Sunday's Busy Beaver article may be worth a look if your taste runs to Turing machines and insanely large numbers.
andrewducker
We went up the hill. There were roses. Nobody knows why. Gideon has
theories involving dead people.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
cakewrecks_feedToday, we're going to talk about the birds...
(By Viva la Tarta)
...and the bees.
(By Dlishcupcakes)
That's right! We're talking about Things that Fly!
(You look relieved. Why? What else would we talk about?)
There are kites:
...balloons in bunches:
(By Mutlu Dukkan)
...or filled with hot air:
(By K Noelle Cakes)
...and airplanes!
(by Gateau Delice)
Sometimes all at the same time:
(By That Baking Girl)
I'd make a kite/balloon/airplane joke here, but I think it'd go over your head.
:D
Let's see, what else?
There are dragonflies:
(By Joylicious Cakes)
...and dragons that fly:
(By La Torta Perfetta)
...which means they have to land somewhere.
Don't ever believe pigs can't fly.
(By Carlos Lischetti Sugar Art)
Heck, with enough thrust (or pixie dust) anything can fly.
All the way out of this world!
(By Cakey Cake)
In fact, if I could fly...
(By Alchemists of Cake)
...I think I'd Never Land.
Wouldn't that be Sweet?
Happy Sunday, everyone!
*****
P.S. Hang on, I can't believe we forgot butterflies!
I used this 84-pc butterfly set to make a gorgeous wreath for John's room, I know you crafters are gonna love them:
(3D Butterfly Wall Magnet Set)
They're double-sided and come with both magnets and stickers. Definitely browse the projects in the reviews, there are so many pretty ideas!
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
james_davis_nicoll
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeedingjames_davis_nicoll - Bundle of Holding: Weird Wizardmarycatelli in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
girlgenius_lair - Monday's Comiccakewrecks_feed - Can I Quote You On That?sistawendy - New York City, part 6james_davis_nicoll - Clarke Award Finalists 201gingicat - first lines/last lines fic memeandrewducker - Interesting Links for 22-09-2025ysabetwordsmith - Educationconuly - Saw just the sweetest little cat yesterdayysabetwordsmith - Naturechopwood_carrywater_feed - Extra! Extra! 9/21shadowkat - (no subject)fbhjr - This week’s practiceysabetwordsmith - Birdfeedinggingicat - Bohemian Rhapsody flashmobmdlbear - Done Since 2025-09-14andrewducker - Photo cross-postcakewrecks_feed - Sunday Sweets: Flights of Fancyjames_davis_nicoll - Frostflower and Thorn (Frostflower and Thorn, volume 1) by Phyllis Ann Karr
