heidi | Pajama Club

jadelennox posting in

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

cahn

idek, I am continuing to fall so hard for the musical of Operation Mincemeat in a way that I sometimes do with theater-plus-music but haven't done for a while (I think the last time I got so fannish about something like this was Don Carlo(s) but for completely different reasons; hey, I can't really predict these things). There are clearly a lot of reasons (okay so yeah the whole hot-charismatic-women-in-suits thing is definitely still a thing), but one of them has to do with the tension between what is actually happening in the musical (a comedy/farce but with a lot of strong feelings bubbling under the surface) and what is happening on a meta level, as it's the kind of musical that cheerfully plays with semi-breaking the fourth wall whenever it feels like it, and the very nature of the way all five actors have to continually interlock and sing together in different combinations and switch from being in conflict to being in sync or vice versa gives a very strong meta vibe of teamwork/found-family.

Operation Mincemeat (Macintyre) -- so I read it! about the actual historical operation using a corpse with faked invasion plans to fool the Nazis, and it was very good and I don't feel like writing it up properly, so, here, instead, have a few totally random things that may or may not make sense:

- the part that I found most compelling was the bit about Baron Alexis von Roenne, whom I had never heard of before but who was Hitler's favorite intelligence analyst and who seems to have been quite intelligent and cautious, and also who wrote a report basically saying, "welp, so, these random invasion plans, found by our not-known-for-detail-or-for-incorruption guys, and which additionally haven't really been examined at all for, say, any kind of counter-espionage tells, contain information that is CLEARLY ALL TOTALLY TRUE." It turns out that he actually had become anti-Nazi and by 1943 "was deliberately passing information he knew to be false, directly to Hitler's desk," and although von Roenne (understandably) did not leave any actual documentation, Macintyre thinks it is very very possible that von Roenne did not believe a word of the Mincemeat faked papers... but... figured he might as well help out the British in their far-fetched plot. As far as I can tell from Macintyre, Hitler did not actually find out about the part where he was passing false information, but he was friends with the guy who tried to assassinate Hitler in July 1944, which unfortunately was enough reason for him to be executed horribly in October of that year. :(

- Macintyre mentioned that in the documentation, Glyndwr Michael, the man whose body lent itself to the Mincemeat deception of the "man who never was," ("Bill Martin") was considered a suicide by rat poison, but Macintyre postulated that it was just as possible that it was an accident, e.g. if Michael had gotten hungry enough to eat poison-laced bait. And I rather appreciate -- which I am sure is 100% intentional -- that the musical lyrics say "This homeless chap in Croydon / Accidentally ate rat poison."

- I found it absolutely hilarious that the musical scene switching between Ewen Montagu and Charles Cholmondeley partying and the seriousness of the submarine going to Spain to release the body is actually something Macintyre spells out! (They did not do a bar crawl as in the musical, but rather attended the theatre with the tickets used to flesh out Bill's cover story, with dates, one of which was Jean Leslie.) No wonder they wanted to make a musical of this!

Finding Hester (Edwards) -- I also read this, on the recommendation of

troisoiseaux and

nnozomi. This was just really sweet! And I super appreciated reading it after the Macintyre. It's a love letter to the power of internet fan groups who can Find Things Out -- here, they tracked down Hester Leggatt (who was first erroneously called Hester Leggett), the MI5 secretary who wrote Bill's love letters, and found out who she was and a lot of cool things about her life, including that she was not the embittered spinster that Macintyre portrays her as, nor the long-bereaved-fiancee that you might think from watching the musical, but someone who had a rich social life and a long-term lover (who was married, and it sounds like they may have eventually separated because he wouldn't divorce his wife). And who wrote a lot of letters! <3 It's a great counterpoint to Macintyre's book and a good reminder that people, in general, are more lovely and complicated and multi-faceted than they look, and than they might come across in a cursory first glance at their life.

I had to laugh at this bit near the end of the book:

The story of Operation Mincemeat seems to be cursed to carry with it inaccuracies and mistakes in books, articles, documentaries and any other form of media that features it. It even continues into media about the musical now, with articles continually getting things wrong regarding the writers, the actors or the show itself. Perhaps it is simply a matter of us now knowing far too much about the musical and having accidentally become Hester Leggatt experts, and the errors on these subjects specifically stick out to us. Maybe every book and article out there is wrong at least once, and we just don't have the knowledge to pick up on it.

I am here to tell you courtesy of salon, or at least

selenak and

mildred_of_midgard are here to tell you, that last sentence is true!

On the musical itself: I have been listening to the soundtrack somewhat nonstop in the car, and this means my poor A. has also been listening to it somewhat nonstop. He is not particularly a fan of the musical, but now he recognizes a lot of the lines... Anyway, so, this happened:

There's a song, "Making a Man," where the MI5 team is talking about constructing and describing the persona of the fictitious-man-behind-the-corpse who will be used in Operation Mincemeat. The first time it came on in the car when A. was there, he had his own thoughts on it:

Montagu: A mind that is stronger than iron
A: Alan Turing!
Montagu: That shines like a light in the dark
A: Yep!
Montagu: And a body that could wrestle a lion
A: ...never mind.

torachan

1. Neither Carla nor I had realized it was the season, but we stopped in at McDonald's for lunch today and saw posters for Shamrock Shakes, so we each got one. I am fine with them not being a year-round thing, but they are surprisingly tasty and I do like getting at least one when they're on the menu.

2. We're having a couple days of warm weather after a few cooler days, and there's supposed to be more warm weather next week, but for once the weekend is actually supposed to be cool. It'll still be warmer in Anaheim than at home, so we're thinking of going to Disneyland for dinner on Saturday rather than breakfast/lunch, but hopefully it won't be too bad. And it wasn't as hot today as it was a few days ago, at least. (Really making me wish the sun was still going down earlier, though! Then we'd have cooler evenings.)

3. Jasper was being a cutie on my desk earlier.

hannah

A dash of snow came down around two thirty and again around six. Not enough to stick around, but enough to notice it wasn't rain. It was one of the more exciting moments of a day brought low by a cold. The ENT doctor yesterday and two rapid tests this morning are decent enough confirmation I can accept that's all it is, which is as cold a comfort as I can get these days.

I can't remember when I bought them, but the tonics I got from the herb farm at the farmer's market seem to be doing a better job of calming my throat down than anything else I've tried. As that's all I want them for, I'll stick with what seems to be working. Anything for a good night's sleep. There's only so many pots of tea you can drink in a day.

My Everchanging Moods groggy
Now That's What I Call... nothing now

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

lassarina

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

pattrose

We had a great time, there were like 80 pictures, but I couldn't decide which ones to choose. So, we decided on these, and they are labeled for the most part. It was a glorious day. March 12th, and it was 87 degrees, F. It's quite different than your usual Botanical Gardens I"ve seen. Everything is made for the desert.

( Pictures )

mrissa

Review copy provided by the publisher.

This is such a fresh and vivid fantasy, it is achingly sad and exciting and wry by turns. I am so glad I got to read this. It tangles two timelines, the "past" of the 1940s and the "present" of the 1970s, both in Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City slum and then reaching out to the areas around it. Mercy Chan doesn't have any memories when she washes up on the shores of Hong Kong during the Japanese occupation--a terrible time to be friendless and unprotected. But she isn't quite either thing, because she has Bao, her maogui (cat ghost)--not a type of spirit known to be friendly, but Bao has apparently made an exception for Mercy.

Bao won't be the last of the local ghosts, spirits, and gods we meet in the course of this book (although he is my favorite). Mercy's talent at communicating with ghosts has given her steady work with the triads for decades. Now her past is catching up to her, and if she can't remember what it was, her future looks imperiled--and so does the future of Hong Kong itself. This is a book that seeks kindness in a world that doesn't always think it has room to be kind, and I found it to be a very satisfying read indeed.

lunabee34

I have missed you all, so I've eased myself back into DW by starting to comment on everyone's journals again, and now I thought I'd try my hand at posting again.

1. I've been reading Hobbit fanfic ever since we watched the movies with Fi for the first time over Thanksgiving break, and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. I can't tell what's fanon and what's canon, though (or from whence it comes if canon). Like, Thorin's sister must be named Dis because everybody calls her that, even though I don't remember that information being in The Hobbit or the trilogy. But I see a variety of names for her husband, which tells me that information isn't included anywhere. Also, there's such a broad swathe of what is probably fanon that seems to appear in every story: that the Ri brothers all have different dads, that Dori is extraordinarily fussy and into tea and etiquette, and etc. I wonder who was the originator of a lot of these ideas.

2. Have some Hobbit recs:

Mr. and Mrs. Baggins by LullabyKnell
Turns out Bilbo and Lobelia have more in common than they thought. They get married about it.

Of Risks and Rewards by Bgtea
Kili/Fili
After BOTFA, Fíli can sense the growing separation between him and Kíli, but he is at a loss as to how he could even begin to rebuild the close relationship they once had. It is just his bad luck that fate is about to throw several more wrenches into his life in the form of suitors.

A Mixture of Madness series by Salvia_G
In which sexual mores are quite different for dwarves. Here be lots of super hot dwarf sex.

3. I have pretty much quit reading Stranger Things fic, but have the last few recs I have in open tabs:

and it all comes down to you by skoosiepants
SGA/ST fusion
The one where Eddie and Steve are soulmates in space!!

A Kiss with a Fist by Sablesea
Steve/Dustin
In the immediate aftermath of the final battle.

Tempus Fugit by Fuuma
Eddie/Dustin
Post-season 4 where Eddie lives.

A Catalog of Non-Definitive Acts series by KidA_666
Steve/Jonathan
Tommy Hagan gets taken instead of Barbara.

mecurtin posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, March 12, to midnight on Friday, March 13 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34361 Daily check-in poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 23

How are you doing?

I am OK
14 (60.9%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
9 (39.1%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
11 (47.8%)

One other person
9 (39.1%)

More than one other person
3 (13.0%)

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.

github posting in

changelog

Branch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 64b109f6fdd36a9130ef4a90057e71e07be5ec86 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/64b109f6fdd36a9130ef4a90057e71e07be5ec86 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-03-12 (Thu, 12 Mar 2026)

Changed paths: M bin/upgrading/deadphrases.dat M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/Create.pm M cgi-bin/DW/Controller/Manage/Profile.pm M cgi-bin/LJ/TextUtil.pm M t/plack-request.t M t/textutil.t M views/create/setup.tt M views/manage/profile.tt M views/manage/profile.tt.text

Log Message:

Remove dead utf8convert links, handle invalid UTF-8 in profiles (#3535)

Remove dead utf8convert links and handle invalid UTF-8 in profiles

The utf8convert page was removed years ago, but the profile editing and account creation pages still linked to it when a user's name or bio contained invalid UTF-8. This left users unable to edit those fields at all.

Instead of hiding fields behind a dead link, clean invalid UTF-8 byte sequences on load using a new LJ::clean_utf8() utility function. This strips broken sequences while preserving valid multi-byte characters, so the edit fields are always shown.

Add LJ::clean_utf8() to LJ::TextUtil
Clean name/bio on load in profile and create controllers
Remove text_in/is_utf8 conditionals from profile.tt and setup.tt
Remove name_absent/bio_absent hidden input fallback logic
Mark dead translation strings in deadphrases.dat
Add 16 regression tests for text_in, text_trim, and clean_utf8

Fixes #1894

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com

Add tests for undef input and 4-byte UTF-8 (emoji) in clean_utf8

Cover edge cases: undef returns empty string, emoji (4-byte sequences) are preserved, and truncated 4-byte sequences are properly stripped while preserving valid preceding characters.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 noreply@anthropic.com

github posting in

changelog

Branch: refs/heads/main Home: https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth Commit: 453fa0142c344ae33d3d208067f110e33d7d48d5 https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/commit/453fa0142c344ae33d3d208067f110e33d7d48d5 Author: Mark Smith mark@dreamwidth.org Date: 2026-03-12 (Thu, 12 Mar 2026)

Changed paths: M src/dwtool/internal/ui/app.go M src/dwtool/internal/ui/logs.go

Log Message:

Update dwtool log filtering to be more useful

To unsubscribe from these emails, change your notification settings at https://github.com/dreamwidth/dreamwidth/settings/notifications

sarajayechan

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

My Everchanging Moods accomplished

rosa_heartlily

This time last year I was getting a good hair cut, not getting Husband to an appointment, prepping for future meetings, making a nice tea, clearing out another cupboard, and making progress with GoW:R.

Today was another early start because Husband had an appointment with the heart nurse. That went really well. They said he doesn't need the spironolactone because his heart has recovered enough, and we can drop the bumetanide from 2 tablets to 1 with a view to cutting them out completely - but to keep it on his prescription just in case. He also had a blood test to check his renal function. There was a really long queue, so we were waiting for at least 20 minutes - and then it was all done in about a minute!

It was a really windy day, so we were both really glad to get inside. On Hope Street, Husband said, 'at least we missed the rain' - as soon as we got home, it started raining!

After dinner, I played some Granblue Fantasy. The story is getting more interesting - and it's also short. I'm expecting to finish it over the weekend.

This afternoon I said to Husband, 'I'm not doing ANYTHING tomorrow!'. Then Daughter texted to say she was bringing the kidlings down. And then Mother rang to ask if they could come down tomorrow or Saturday. Well, my quiet Friday is already gone, so come tomorrow. I'm going to do my cleaning tomorrow and have a quiet Saturday instead. Fingers crossed...

We watched the penultimate episode of Traitors: Ireland and another episode of Handcuffed. And now I'm watching the next Tom Baker story.

My Everchanging Moods exhausted
Cool Places bedroom

shipperslist

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

cereta posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Care and Feeding,

I’m a stay-at-home mom, and my husband works outside the home. We have three kids and obviously we all sometimes get sick. However, for some reason (*cough* I wash my hands and he doesn’t *cough*) I usually seem to get a much milder case of whatever bug we’re all dealing with than my husband, or sometimes don’t get it at all, leaving me to care for sick kids without any help. I know I should be grateful that I don’t usually get as sick, but being under the weather and nursing sick babies while my husband sleeps all day is hard. I usually end up completely run down, exhausted, and sometimes even depressed.

Recently, we all got the flu, and this time I did get it pretty bad. My husband was still recovering, and the baby was still sick so my mom had to come stay with us for a while … and then she got it. My husband and I talked after we were all healthy about how we could better handle a house full of sick people and, uncharacteristically, we didn’t come to a great resolution. I’m tired of not being able to get significant rest time when I’m ill and being on my own with sick kids, so I think we should rely on help from family more and also that my husband should accept that being sick as a parent isn’t the same as being sick without kids. I asked him to really consider what help he could offer me while he’s sick and volunteer it more. I also admitted that I should do a better job of asking him to work from home occasionally when I need to recover from being sick. He agreed on the last point but didn’t accept either of the first two: He thinks it’s out of line to ask family to come help us and get sick themselves and isn’t willing to commit himself to doing more when he is sick. We’re all healthy now but I’m sure the next virus is just around the corner, so who is right? How do you fairly split the work when everyone doesn’t feel good?

—We’re Not at Our Best

Dear WNaOB,

I am always thrilled to hear anyone is out there, washing their hands, which is one of the best forms of preventive “medicine” we have. This may indeed help account for the times you manage to avoid the bug entirely but can have no possible relationship to the times you just have milder symptoms than your less fortunate family members.

Every illness is different. So is what “doing more” can mean. I’m glad you are on the same page about him working from home more frequently while you are recovering; I am not sure why it hinges on you asking as opposed to him making the decision based on the situation, but if that’s what it takes, fine.

On the family question, I’m torn. I would not ask an older relative to risk the seasonal flu, if at all possible. For minor bugs, if you are extremely honest that you are floundering and need a second pair of hands and that those hands may wind up catching whatever illness the family has, people can make their own informed decision about helping.

Sometimes everyone is sick at once. One of the worst parts of being a parent is not being able to retreat to the couch with a Gatorade, regardless of how terrible you feel, because a child needs you to hold their hair back or heat up some soup. It’s a good time to rely on food delivery for a short period (if anyone actually feels like eating), and I recommend having basic sickness prep ready to roll (children’s cold medicine to bring down fevers and help with sleep, Pedialyte, extra mattress protectors under extra fresh sheets so you can just yank off the soiled top set and have a pre-made bed ready to go, etc.)

You and your husband are not going to solve for all time the “but I’M sicker when I’m sick” argument. You do need to ask for what you need and to be specific with what those needs are. “Can you please switch the laundry to the dryer? Can you load the dishwasher? Can you bring home saltines and ginger ale?” It seems as though communication in your household has become contentious and now carries the weight of grievances from Ghosts of Seasonal Flu Past. He thinks you’re telling him he’s a malingerer, you’re drowning in gross tissues, etc. Please try to strip emotion out of these interactions whenever possible. Fake it like you’re on a team until you’re actually on a team here.

Also, I hesitate to tell a grown man to wash his hands during cold and flu season, but if he hasn’t grasped the repeated and unpleasant cause and effect at play here, you have my permission to tell him a professional advice columnist thinks he’s being a real tool.

linky

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

My Everchanging Moods contemplative

teratornis

With some frequency I think to myself that I'd really like to talk more about various shows/movies/books/music here, and then I don't do that, so in light of a recent Burn Notice rewatch, I figured I'd write some stuff down.

So. Burn Notice.

I started watching this show while it was still airing, in its. . . third or fourth season, I believe. Just in time for the absolute doozy of the fourth season's mid-season cliffhanger, naturally. I remember, at the time, really enjoying the first few seasons, and then not enjoying the latter seasons as much. Since then I've rewatched the first couple seasons a time or two, but never got past the fourth season again because of that vague memory of not enjoying the show so much past that point. This time, I watched the whole series through for I think the first time since my initial viewing.

And I am really glad I did.( Read more... )

cereta posting in

agonyaunt

Dear How to Do It,

I made a mistake. I have been very close with my friend, who’s a woman, for the past three years. I am a man, and for the most part, I’ve been able to convince her that I am gay.

At first, I just yearned for the platonic affection that only a woman can offer; nothing obscene. But now … I am enticed by her smooth skin and curves. I’ve seen her naked several times, and she’s always felt safe around me because she thinks I am gay. How can I proposition her so that she’ll forget all about my so-called gayness? Should I pretend to be bisexual? HELP!

—Cross My Heart and Hope to Die

Dear Cross My Heart and Hope to Die,

Did you consult with any media before deciding to pursue opportunistic identity impersonation? With icing on her face, Mrs. Doubtfire would have shrieked at you, “Hell noooooo!” You have placed yourself in a farce that rarely works out as intended. You purposely deceived someone in order to make a connection, and now that you have that connection, you want more. Meanwhile, your friend will end up with less. It is safe to assume that her attachment to and comfort around you are predicated on your lie. You’re asking what to say to make her forget, as if I’m a wizard who’s been holding out on revealing a magic technique for mind-editing and not just some guy sitting on his couch in Brooklyn.

Here are your options: Keep up the deception and forget any kind of romantic pursuit because to her, you are as good as gay. You will have to keep up this deception for the rest of your life and/or friendship (whichever ends first), which seems exhausting and doomed to fail. Or you can come clean and hope that she is already in love with you and has been secretly wishing that you would just turn straight already. Unless she is under love’s spell, she is likely to be angry when she finds out that you have deceived her. Since your relationship is built on a lie, you can expect the relationship to collapse once the lie is dismantled. I don’t think there’s any way around that, but at least now you know what not to do next time.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

rachelmanija

A French children's book in translation from 1961, in which five children are trapped in a cottage by a landslide.

14-year-old Laurent's family is concerned that he spends all his time reading and doing chemistry experiments, and isn't engaging with other people. So they dispatch him to stay with his younger brother and sister in a cottage only occupied by a 14-year-old girl and her younger brother, who are alone because her mother is having surgery. The idea is that Laurent will have to take care of the other kids, and this will make him come out of his shell more. His parents do leave him the out of being able to pack up his siblings and return to Paris if he really hates it.

I am honestly not sure if it was even vaguely normal in 60s France for five kids ages 14-5 to stay alone in a remote mountain cottage for ten days, or if this was just a literary convention. Anyway, Laurent unsurprisingly hates it and packs up his siblings to leave. But while they're on the train platform with the other kids, he has a change of heart and they all head back to the cottage. But they stop in the cottage of a family friend, who is out at the time.

It gets buried in a landslide! They're all trapped in pitch darkness! In an only vaguely familiar house! They can't use the stove because it already nearly suffocated them with carbon monoxide! Their only air is from a narrow shaft leading to a giant canyon! There's very little food! No one knows they're in trouble because one of the kids wrote ten postcards dated for every day of the vacation, then arranged with the post office to send one per day!

The kids having to do everything in total darkness for most of the book is a really cool twist on this sort of "trapped in a space" book. (One of my favorite moments is when enough dirt slides away that some light gets in, and they see that they've been half-starved in pitch darkness with two huge hams and a lantern hanging from the ceiling.) It has some cozy elements - they're trapped with goats, which they can milk but which also get into everything and poop everywhere, and one goat gives birth to twin kids - but gets desperate quickly when Laurent gets an infected cut and the main milking goat drowns in a flooded cellar. But it all ends up okay when they first signal with Morse code in a mirror (in a nice touch of realism, it takes a long time for anyone to figure out the message as the kids get some of the letters wrong, including signaling OSO instead of SOS) and then make and set off gunpowder!

Not an enduring classic, but an entertaining read.

badly_knitted posting in

get_knitted

Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.

Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?

There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.

This Week's Question: What is a craft that you tried but abandoned?

If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.

I now declare this Check-In OPEN!

My Everchanging Moods tired
Cool Places my desk

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

reeby10 posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

starwatcher

Just what the title says. This post is mostly for me; I need a place to keep cute animal vid links to share with Cindy. But if you want to watch 30 to 60 seconds of animals being cute -- mostly on TikTok and/or BlueSky, enjoy!

Music vid, Ilya/Ducky comparison. 3 minutes

petting a squirrel

parrot matches colors

cat appalled at bath water

dog with ball skills

dog break dancing

dog on skateboard

dog belly dancing

normal dog vs husky

Uzbek bread making

dog pulls cat on sled 3:20 minutes

silent letter day 4:40 minutes

“easy open” desk 3 minutes

oursin

Naturally, from various angles of my interests, I am going to click on a link like this, no? Pornucopia: The World’s Largest Collection of Smut, and You Can’t See It.

And while I have a certain historianly interest in the contents of the collection (though I was having a conversation with somebody a little while ago and we reckoned we would love to take a gander at Antony Comstock's Private Cupboard, because a leading smuthound must have accumulated a really outstanding filth collection, hmmmm?)

- I was going to myself with my archivist hat on, OMG, this is so many problems - there must be HUGE conservation issues, I just hope none of those porno movies are on nitrate film, but I do not think the smart money would be betting on it, and a lot of those relics are on degrading media even if they're not going to spontaneously combust. Some of them I wonder if there are actually means of playing them still.

(Tangentially I mention my wince when hearing thrilled younger scholar recount how they had listened to a 78 rpm recording in a sound archive, and I was, really???)

Then it sounds as though they are Not Keeping Up With Basic Processing ('embarrassed about the unorganized conditions', heh) which sounds as though ambitious collecting agenda has totally outrun capacity of institution to keep on top of it (should I add 'fnar fnar, nudge wink' at this point???).

Plus on the access thing and being not entirely welcoming to visitors, while - perhaps - historically collections like The Private Case (in the BL), L'Enfer (Bibliotheque Nationale), etc, were only made available to selected readers for fear of contaminating the public, in more recent days this is because this material is particularly vulnerable to to being mutilated - pages torn out or defaced, etc - which is why if you want to consult Cup. classification material in the BL you have to do so under the eye of the Librarian's Desk.

I suspect also in play is a probably legit fear of persons presenting themselves as SRS Scholars who once they are in will go BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES on the place ('wary about divulging warehouse locations', totally figures).

Over here, being niche.

reeby10 posting in

fandom_on_dw

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

leatacreates posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

moetushie

Hey all! Just dropping a note to say that I'm still alive and kicking, but. You know. See icon. Hope you're doing well as you can be.

I'm mostly active on Discord, not really on Bluesky, improbably, my Tumblr is still active! I would NOT have guessed back in 2009, when I started it to promote my artwork (a thing I have never done), I never would have expected that it would have lasted seventeen years. Here's to improbable survival!

My Everchanging Moods cynical

madbaker

Me, saying goodbye to the wife this morning: "I should be home around the usual time. I'm not stopping at any bars or strip clubs."
(pause)
Me: "Why did I say that like it's an unusual choice?"
(wife laughs)

My Everchanging Moods silly

pauraque

subtitle that didn't fit in the subject line: On Being Both, Beyond, and In-Between

I'm going to say this prominently because I think it has caused some confusion among reviewers: This is a book by two nonbinary authors and the title is Life Isn't Binary, and it is NOT (primarily) about nonbinary gender identity! If you want a book that is primarily about nonbinary gender identity, this book may not give you what you're looking for!

Instead, it is about problems with binary thinking in all areas of life. There is a tendency for people to view many things in terms of two categories in opposition. Male/female and cis/trans, yes, but also Black/white, straight/gay, privileged/marginalized, body/mind, emotion/logic, friend/lover, us/them. The book examines and deconstructs these binaries and more, and encourages thinking about who currently benefits from their resultant flattening of nuance, and what we could gain from framing concepts in a less polarized way.

The book is short but extremely densely packed with ideas. I read it as a two-person book club with

dragonque, and every chapter elicited fruitful discussion about its points and how they related to our own lives and experiences. I have known

dragonque for a long time and I feel like I got to know them much better through talking about this book!

I do think at times it can feel too dense and too short for the vast scope of its thesis. The authors can state in one sentence an absolutely massive idea that could itself be an entire book, and that's the only thing they say about it because they're already on to the next point. (The authors have in fact collaborated on several other books which sound like they may elaborate on some of the things where I was like, "so, that's all you're going to say about that one? okay!")

But I found the book very worthwhile and thought-provoking, and after returning it to the library I bought my own copy because I expect I will be re-reading it, referring to it, or wanting to lend it to people.

denise posting in

dw_advocacy

Case: Netchoice v Wilson, 3:26-cv-00543, (D.S.C.)

Netchoice's litigation page: Netchoice v Wilson

Netchoice filed the motion for preliminary injunction on March 9. It isn't available on the docket in RECAP yet (and I'm over my threshold for PACER fees that will get refunded for the quarter, or else I'd put it there!) but it is available on Netchoice's litigation page: Motion for Preliminary Injunction. They haven't included the declarations, but here's Dreamwidth's declaration as filed, authored by yours truly. Because of the wild incoherence of so many of the provisions of this law, many of which were new because a lot of states have switched to using different model legislation, I had to write almost all of our declaration for this one from scratch (while recovering from a lumbar puncture, lying flat on my back in bed: never let it be said I am not completely extra about the lengths to which I will go to fight against this bullshit), so much less of it will look familiar than usual, but boy was I mad.

We'll let you know when the judge makes a ruling on the PI! And three cheers as always for the Netchoice team and for the outside litigation counsel team, who is Lehotsky Keller Cohn for this one and who put in massively heroic effort to get this filed as fast as possible thanks to the law taking immediate effect.

prettygoodword

diglossia (dai-GLOS-ee-uh) or diaglossia (dee-uh-GLOS-ee-uh) - (ling.) n., the use of two varieties of the same language in different social contexts of a speech community.

Typically, one is a high/prestigious mode and the other a low/everyday mode. A common example is High German and Swiss German, common throughout German-speaking Switzerland, but many countries where there's an official version used in schools and broadcasts (often based on the dialect of the capital) and local variants have this (outside the capital, that is). As a linguistics term, introduced in 1959 by American sociolinguist Charles A. Ferguson from Latin diglōssia, bilingual (with influence of French diglossie, bilingual), from Ancient Greek díglōssos, again same meaning.

---L.

selenak

( Paradise 2.05 )

( Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1.10 )

My Everchanging Moods calm
Cool Places Munich

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

My Everchanging Moods cheerful

james_davis_nicoll

John Brown's body lies a-moldering in a very different grave in a very different North America.

Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson

linky

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

My Everchanging Moods still waking up

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/03/12/nobody-expects-ryan-mcdonald/

oursin

Happy birthday,

bats_eye!

cyphomandra

I have not written up an escape room for ages despite having done rather a lot of them - I think I'm up to ~65, including online ones, although those no longer count for TERPECA so I might have to list them separately. Anyway. This is my most recent, fitted into a flying visit to Sydney (fly over first flight of the morning, attend all day conference, check into wrong hotel, check into right hotel (same brand and area but with one crucial word different!), do escape room, sleep, attend all day conference, fly back on last flight of the evening).

Unstoppable!

You are a special forces group, code-name ‘Skyfall’ from the Australian National Security Agency and there is a highly classified mission for you:

You have received intelligence that a terrorist has placed bombs containing a mutated virus on a train soon to depart from Sydney.

With limited clues, you must discover which train it is, and defuse the bombs as soon as possible. You must act quickly to prevent a tragedy…

You're shown onto a station platform and given a credit card, and the first puzzle is to work out which train to catch and buy the right tickets. Eventually, you board the waiting train (an actual carriage) and, if you're successful in defusing the bombs, there's an extension to the room wherein you have to stop the train. The theming and the set were fantastic, the puzzles were good, and the whole thing was a lot of fun. My only negative was that the walkie talkie was unreliable - sometimes when you held down the button it transmitted your voice, sometimes it did nothing, and sometimes it did nothing and then beeped frantically for quite some time, arrgh. Lots of physical puzzles (I particularly enjoyed plotting a train route with multiple restrictions and working out a toilet flush code) and nifty details. It's an 80 minute room and I got out with just under 2 minutes to go.

I did ask for a couple of hints (two puzzles where I got stuck and then a third I was working on and got a voiceover telling me a bit more than I expected) and I did have to get a staff member to come in for the last puzzle, which was impossible to do alone. I have solo'd about ten escape rooms now and this is only the second one where I've had to get someone in, although there are certainly ones that would have been easier with someone else (I am thinking of the one where I had to do a DDR game with controls that were just slightly too wide apart for me to do anything other than lunge repeatedly, also the one in which the lights ran off a generator that had to be hand-cranked intermittently to avoid plunging everything into darkness). This one was similar, in that it had four controls that determined the movement of a point on a screen, each moving it in one direction, but there was no way I could reach more than two of them.

This is the first room I've done at Mission, although my sister's done one of theirs with a live actor (which I really want to try), and I liked it a lot. I am still on a UK escape room group and they recently advertised an escape room on an actual train, which sounded fantastic; this might not have actually been moving but it definitely had some of the same vibes.

dine

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

wickedgame posting in

fandom_icons

Fandoms: 9-1-1, 9-1-1: Lone Star, 1923, A Discovery of Witches, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Echo, Elite, Fallout, Heated Rivalry, Stargirl, The Order, Yellowjackets

rest HERE @

mundodefieras

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34521

OTW recruitment banner

Are you interested in helping keep OTW news post spaces a welcoming and safe space for engagement? Are you fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, or Spanish, and want to help us better reply to users all around the world? Are you a skilled organizer who enjoys working in a team? The Organization for Transformative Works is recruiting!

We're excited to announce the opening of applications for:

News Post Moderator - closing 18 March 2026 at 23:59 UTC or after 60 applications
User Response Translation Translator - closing 18 March 2026 at 23:59 UTC
Translation Volunteer Manager- closing 18 March 2026 at 23:59 UTC

We have included more information on each role below. Open roles and applications will always be available at the volunteering page. If you don't see a role that fits with your skills and interests now, keep an eye on the listings. We plan to put up new applications every few weeks, and we will also publicize new roles as they become available.

All applications generate a confirmation page and an auto-reply to your e-mail address. We encourage you to read the confirmation page and to whitelist our email address in your e-mail client. If you do not receive the auto-reply within 24 hours, please check your spam filters and then contact us.

If you have questions regarding volunteering for the OTW, check out our Volunteering FAQ.

News Post Moderator

News Post Moderation is a Communications subcommittee that is responsible for moderating comments on AO3 and OTW News Posts as well as liaising with other OTW committees to respond to individual commenters as needed.

News Post Moderators freeze, hide, or disallow comments that do not comply with our News Post Moderation Policy. We approve comments that do comply, respond to user questions and concerns, and communicate with other OTW committees so that users can receive helpful, accurate answers.

You must be 18+ in order to apply for this role. We are looking for volunteers who can maintain a consistent level of work, ask for help and collaborate both inside the team and with other committees, and make fair and objective decisions about what comments to moderate.

Applications are due 18 March 2026 or after 60 applications

Apply for News Post Moderator at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.

User Response Translation Translator

Are you fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, or Spanish, and want to help us better communicate with AO3 users all over the world?

User Response Translation (URT) volunteers help AO3 committees to correspond with users in other languages. URT translators will assist the Policy & Abuse and Support committees by translating correspondence between these committees and AO3 users into specific languages. URT does not translate AO3 or OTW site pages, news posts, or fanworks.

We are looking for volunteers who are at least 18 years old and fluent in Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, or Spanish. Applicants will be asked to translate and beta (edit) short text samples as part of the selection process.

Applications are due 18 March 2026

Apply for User Response Translation Translator at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.

Translation Volunteer Manager

Are you a skilled organizer who enjoys working in a team, liaising with people, working with documentation and texts, and making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes?

The Translation committee is currently recruiting Volunteer Managers. Volunteer Managers coordinate localization efforts across the OTW: the translation of site pages, news posts, AO3 FAQs, AO3 Support and Policy & Abuse tickets, and any inquiries that reach other committees in languages they can't translate themselves.

While translators do the actual text translation and editing, volunteer managers support them by keeping track of priorities, deadlines, and pending tasks; assigning work; talking to and working with other committees to coordinate the translation of their content; uploading translated documents; documenting volunteer training, procedures, and workflows; checking in and actioning translators' feedback; and many other tasks involved in managing a wide, diverse and very active volunteer pool.

If you'd like to find out more about the work before applying, feel free to send your questions to translation@transformativeworks.org! Please note that you must be over 18 years of age to apply for this role.

Applications are due 18 March 2026

Apply for Translation Volunteer Manager at the volunteering page! If you have further questions, please contact us.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34521

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34516

Image of three books with text '17 Million Fanworks on AO3'

A lot has been going on at the Archive of Our Own (AO3) lately! In January, we celebrated 10 million registered users on AO3. February was all about International Fanworks Day, which we celebrated with several events, culminating in our 30-hour chat and games party over on Discord. And now, we've hit another milestone: 17 million fanworks on AO3!

With this many amazing fanworks, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to remember your favorites. This is why we have bookmarks on AO3! Bookmarks are a useful tool to save fanworks for re-reading whenever the mood strikes, or to recommend a work to other users.

And did you know that not only can you bookmark works posted on AO3, but also external fanworks you want to remember? To bookmark an external work, go to your Dashboard, and then to the "Bookmarks" section. In the upper right corner, there should be a button called "Bookmark External Work". For more information on bookmarks, check out our Bookmarks FAQ!

As always, we are beyond grateful for each and every one of you who contributes their free time, love, and effort to AO3, and helps us grow and flourish! We're excited to see what other achievements we'll celebrate together this year.

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, Transformative Works and Cultures, and OTW Legal Advocacy. We are a fan-run, entirely donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34516

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34511

Banner of a paper airplane emerging from an envelope with the words 'OTW Newsletter: Organization for Transformative Works'

I. INTERNATIONAL FANWORKS DAY

On February 15, Communications coordinated many International Fanworks Day (IFD) activities, including a Feedback Fest highlighting fanwork recommendations, an editing challenge in conjunction with Fanlore, and an IFD Discord server with games and chatting. Additionally, Translation helped make IFD materials available in 22 languages. Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating!

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

In February, we celebrated AO3 reaching 10 million registered users! \o/

Accessibility, Design & Technology (AD&T) focused on some important upgrades and bug fixes, including upgrading to Ruby on Rails 8 and improving the collection revealing process. They also published release notes for December's code changes.

AO3 Documentation began their biannual review of user-facing documentation.

In the past month, Open Doors signed five new agreements with moderators to import their archives to AO3! Fandoms include Highlander, The Magnificent Seven, My Chemical Romance, and others. They also completed the import of Slashknot, a Slipknot (band) fanfiction and fanart archive.

In January, Support received 3,811 tickets, while Policy & Abuse (PAC) received 7,972 tickets. User Response Translation completed 12 requests from PAC and 37 requests from Support. PAC continues to work closely with AD&T and Systems to combat spam that users have been experiencing across the site.

Tag Wrangling announced 28 new "No Fandom" canonical tags for February. In January, they wrangled over 648,000 tags, or around 1,400 tags per wrangling volunteer.

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

Fanlore ran a Femslash February monthly editing challenge! Systems also helped upgrade Fanlore to a new version of MediaWiki.

In February, Legal had one of their volunteers participate in a briefing for staffers in the U.S. Legislature to gain a deeper understanding of copyright fair use. Elsewhere, Legal answered a number of questions internally and from users.

TWC is preparing their March 2026 issue on "Gaming Fandom" for publication. They also completed an update of TWC's editorial board as part of their ongoing work to expand TWC's scope, diversify their discipline in terms of historically marginalized fans and scholars, make the journal more international in scope, and increase multimodal approaches.

IV. GOVERNANCE

Board has concluded all Board-committee check-ins and is reviewing key themes across the organization. They also voted to approve an interpretative rule of one bylaw to better accommodate any future Board members with hearing disabilities.

Board Assistants Team continued work on various projects, including revamping the OTW Board Discord and researching projects on volunteer retention, public meeting best practices, and volunteer mental health.

Organizational Culture Roadmap continued work on the OTW Code of Conduct update project by finishing a summary of internal survey results and adjusting Code of Conduct drafts based on recommendations from an external HR firm. The OTW Crisis Management Plan has been finalised and approved by the Board.

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

In February, Volunteers & Recruiting ran recruitment for seven roles across four committees and one workgroup.

From January 23 to February 21, Volunteers & Recruiting received 182 new requests and completed 295, leaving them with 61 open requests (including induction and removal tasks listed below). As of February 21, 2026, the OTW has 985 volunteers. \o/ Recent personnel movements are listed below.

New Communications Volunteers: 3 Social Media Moderators
New Translation Volunteers: 1 Volunteer Manager and 1 Translator
New Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: corr and peaandsea (Chair Assistants) and 1 Volunteer

Departing Committee Chairs/Leads: Elizabeth Wiltshire (Organizational Culture Roadmap Head) and 1 Elections Chair
Departing AO3 Documentation Volunteers: 1 Editor
Departing Communications Volunteers: Abby (Social Media Moderator) and 2 Weibo Moderators
Departing Elections Volunteers: 1 Voting Process Architect
Departing Open Doors Volunteers: Mei and 2 other Import Assistants, and 1 Chair Assistant
Departing Support Volunteers: Mily and RRHand (Volunteers)
Departing Tag Wrangling Volunteers: Indes, lifeisyetfair, PinkBrain, plantpun, and 14 other Tag Wrangling Volunteers
Departing Translation Volunteers: Idiosincrasy (Volunteer Manager and Translator), 3 Volunteer Managers, and 1 Translator
Departing Volunteers & Recruiting Volunteers: corr, peaandsea, and 1 other Senior Volunteer; and 2 Volunteers

For more information about our committees and their regular activities, you can refer to the committee pages on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34511

pattrose

Things to Do to Help Me Feel Better

If I’m in a bad mood I put on some fast beat music and sit down and do Chair aerobics. It’s so fun while being good for you. And within ten minutes I feel physically and mentally better. I’m rarely in a bad mood, but every now and then it sneaks up on me.

How about you?

pattrose

90 questions

Think of someone from your life you miss terribly. What would you say to them?

I had a dear friend that married young like we did. They had a little boy four months old, named Roman. He was so darling. I was pregnant with my first child at the time. Our friends were Denny and Thais. They went to see their parents one weekend and a train hit their car, killing both Thais and Roman. We were all heartbroken, but Denny lost touch with reality. His family asked if I would stay at the hospital with him during the funerals. I was 18, nine months pregnant and it was the worst thing that ever happened to me. We tried to stay close to Denny but he was really out there. He told my hubby that the baby I was carrying, was his. Poor thing. I miss Thais but I didn’t know how to handle Denny. So, I missed both of them. And that precious baby, was so missed. If I had a chance to talk to Thais, I would thank her for our friendship and tell her how much I would miss her. Now, I’m sad.

pattrose

Not quite 365 days questions

12. When was the last time you vacuumed the floor?

Gosh like 3 years ago. I have pulmonary hypertension and can’t do many physical things. Hubby does the strenuous work. I dust, clean bathrooms and do all the cooking. He’s such a good guy. He never complains. But he loves that I cook each night or every other night. Hubby vacuums the floor every other day, unless it’s real windy. Then it’s every day.

How about you?

pattrose

( “recipe” )

pattrose

Creamy Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Roll-Ups
( ”recipe” )

Profile

heidi

FictionAlley

Navigation

June 2022

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

Page Summary

jadelennox in poetry - (no subject)
cahn - Operation Mincemeat (books and musical)
torachan - Daily Happiness
hannah - Thursday night.
princessofgeeks - *aside*
lassarina - various and sundry
pattrose - Botanical Gardens Arizona Style
mrissa - The Girl With a Thousand Faces, by Sunyi Dean
lunabee34 - 3 Things
mecurtin in fandom_checkin - Daily Check-In
github in changelog - [dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 64b109: Remove dead utf8convert links, handle invalid UTF-...
github in changelog - [dreamwidth/dreamwidth] 453fa0: Update dwtool log filtering to be more useful
sarajayechan - Fannish 50 round 2, #13
rosa_heartlily - Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all!
shipperslist - ...
cereta in agonyaunt - Care and Feeding: Parenting While Sick
linky - Artist Things
teratornis - TV Show: Burn Notice
cereta in agonyaunt - How To Do It: I Pretended To Be Gay To A Female Friend.
princessofgeeks - mundanity
rachelmanija - Landslide, by Veronique Day
badly_knitted in get_knitted - Check-In Post - March 12th 2026
prisca in fic_promptly - Thursday, March 12 - Free for All
reeby10 in fandomcalendar - characters20in20 Round 21
starwatcher - Cute vids to keep.
oursin - Okay, he thinks SMUT TROVE, I think, 'curatorial nightmare'
reeby10 in fandom_on_dw - characters20in20 Round 21
leatacreates in fandomcalendar - Supernatural: Gabriel's Big Bang
moetushie - (Still) ATE'NT DEAD
madbaker - (no subject)
pauraque - Life Isn't Binary by Meg-John Barker & Alex Iantaffi (2019)
denise in dw_advocacy - Update, Netchoice v Wilson (South Carolina): motion for preliminary injunction filed
prettygoodword - di(a)glossia
selenak - Beware of mailmen and self build bombs
princessofgeeks - Heated Rivalry "parody" video
james_davis_nicoll - Fire on the Mountain by Terry Bisson
linky - Community Thursday
chickenfeet - Nobody expects... Ryan McDonald
oursin - (no subject)
cyphomandra - Unstoppable! Mission Room Escape (Sydney)
dine - do or do not, there is no try
wickedgame in fandom_icons - multifandom icons.
ao3_news_feed - The OTW is Recruiting for News Post Moderators, User Response Translation Translators, and Translati
ao3_news_feed - AO3 Celebrates 17 Million Fanworks
ao3_news_feed - February 2026 Newsletter, Volume 208
pattrose - Topics for talk
pattrose - 90 questions for discussion
pattrose - Not quite 365 days questions
pattrose - Recipe dinner and dessert
pattrose - Recipe shrimp dinner

Style Credit

Base style: Fluid Measure by branchandroot
Theme: Lavender Mist by krja

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Mar. 15th, 2026 04:21 am

sharing fannish enthusiasm

Pajama Club

News Post Moderator

User Response Translation Translator

Translation Volunteer Manager

I. INTERNATIONAL FANWORKS DAY

II. ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN

III. ELSEWHERE AT THE OTW

IV. GOVERNANCE

V. OUR VOLUNTEERS

Navigation

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags