eiffel_71 | Network

New rocket fuel compound packs 150% more energy

A new boron-rich compound, manganese diboride, delivers much higher energy density than current solid-rocket materials while remaining stable until intentionally ignited. Its power comes from an unusual, strained atomic structure formed during ultra-hot synthesis, with promising uses beyond propulsion.

Honestly, I'm FAR more impressed by the stability than by the power boost. Making things go "boom" is easy. Making wait until you tell them to go "boom" is much harder. One of the biggest risks in space exploration is the fuel itself -- says the person who has seen a lot of model rocket mishaps.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to the Second Annual Fall Fest at the Milk & Honey Coffeehouse in Mattoon. Here are some pictures from the event.

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Current Mood: busy

sovay

I started the afternoon by sitting under the shade of some kind of ornamental cherry while my godchild pruned and weeded the sprawling twenty-one-gourd salute of a vine that has taken over the lawn, but then the sun moved to reflect itself directly into my eyes and I relocated to the fire lane on the grounds that technically I was not parked in it.

Highlights of the later afternoon included napping for at least an hour, Japanese-style egg salad sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and

fleurdelis41 notifying me of the identification of the Sanday Wreck and its four decades of service in the Royal Navy and the Arctic fishery. My godson spent most of the evening repainting and rebuilding a chair, partly by lantern-light out on the deck where he looked like some DIY Tarot draw of the Star.

Wildcat Bus (1940) is the definition of a programmer in that its premise of a small commercial bus line suffering a mysterious string of sabotage is reasonably disposable and in execution it is a thorough delight, starting with third-billed Paul Guilfoyle for once not playing a sleaze, a stooge, or any kind of crook at all, but the steadfast and sarcastic, textually acknowledged heterosexual life partner of the hero, the former oil heir played by Charles Lang who cracked up so badly in the wake of personal tragedy that the film opens with his spectacular eviction from the penthouse he couldn't afford on an installment plan, burrowed avoidantly into his bedclothes until spilled out onto the floor blinking at the receiver like the repossession of Bertie Wooster. Technically the chauffeur even when that 1937 Packard Twelve represents the totality of their possessions, Guilfoyle's Donovan is generally the person in the room with the brain cell, although Fay Wray gives him fair competition as the mechanically minded general manager of Federated Bus Lines who if she has a more feminine given name than "Ted" is never once addressed by it, while Leona Roberts' Ma Talbot does almost as good a bait-and-switch as Why Girls Leave Home (1945) as a criminal mastermind camouflaged as a little old charlady. What looks like a comic bit with a voluble Mexican turns into the lesson that if you want to drive a bus in southern California, you had better be fluent in Spanish. When a Chinese-American passenger sounds like a houseboy, he's doing it to razz Lang's Jerry Waters. There's some sweet if rear-projected footage of the Golden Gate International Exposition, a climactically left-field donnybrook, and the breezily Code-blowing demurral, "Why, no, Mr. Casey, I do my entertaining at the Athletic Club." It's not quite Only Angels Have Wings (1939), but when asked point-blank by Ted about the man he's pulled through more than one wipeout, "You really like him, don't you?" I'll take Donovan's thoughtfully frank, "Yeah, I guess I do." He has eloquently mordant eyebrows and an absentminded habit of tidying any office he's left to his own devices in. The whole thing came off the shop floor of RKO in a month and barely clears an hour in runtime and its attractions are unpretentious but satisfying, especially where character actors are perennially concerned. Guilfoyle may always have had a case of resting hangdog face, but come on, it worked for Walter Matthau. "I've taken an awful lot of guff from you for six years, you can take ten minutes from me."

Current Music: Tones on Tail, "Go! (Club Mix)"

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ysabetwordsmith

Today is mostly sunny and sweltering.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 10/4/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 10/4/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I heard a bluejay screaming but didn't see it.

EDIT 10/4/25 -- I watered the irises, telephone pole garden, and a few of the savanna seedlings.

As it is almost suppertime, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

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brithistorian

"Inspiration is merely the reward for working every day."

— Charles Baudelaire (in Curiosites Esthetiques [1868])

Certainly not the first or only person to say some variation on this, but I think it's an aesthetically pleasing statement of the concept.

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yuletide_admin

We are 168 hours into tag approving! We began with 6078 individual fandom nominations to sort (where if two people submitted the same fandom, that would count twice towards the total). We have 210 fandom nominations still to sort. Please review the questions below to help us sort them quickly and correctly!

Please link your nominations page if telling us what to do about your nomination - thank you! Please either sign in to comment, or include a name with your anonymous comments, including replies to others' comments. Unsigned comments will stay screened. (You can find your own nominations at this link; keep in mind this gives you an 'Edit' screen where you can't actually submit any edits, but if you delete /edit, that's the page we're looking for.)

If we've processed any of your nominations and something doesn't look right, please comment (with your nominations page) to tell us about the problem and how you think it should be corrected. Questions are welcome.

Dragon's Dogma - Nominator, we won’t approve the group tag Pawn(s) (Dragon’s Dogma) as there is at least one specific Pawn. We can replace it with Arisen's Companion Pawn (Dragon's Dogma), which we approved last year, or remove this character, as you prefer. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Fox and the Hound (Disney Movies) - Nominator, we can't find characters who could be Tod And Vixie's Kits - could you clarify what you were thinking there please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Ghost in the Shell (Anime & Manga) - this is nominated with Kusanagi Motoko, Batou, Kogusa, and Saito; meanwhile, we also have a nomination for Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (Anime) with Batou, Hideo Kuze, Motoko Kusanagi, and Togusa. We would prefer to combine these under Stand Alone Complex but are open to hearing otherwise. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Hell's Belles - Jaysea Lynn and Hell's Belles Series - Jaysea Lynn - Nominators, is For Whom the Belle Tolls the first in a series, or are these nominations a reference to the TikTok series related to the book? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Inner Gold - Lindsey Stirling feat. Royal & the Serpent (Music Video) - We’re wondering about “Lindsey Stirling's Character | Golden Dancer” specifically. Is that the violinist in the gold mesh played by Lindsey Stirling, or the character in red who becomes covered in gold also played by Lindsey Stirling, or are these the same character? Would you be open to us approving the video without characters, to more easily leave these interpretations up to a creator? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

LEGO Castle - This seems to combine more than one playset. Nominator, could you clarify what you are hoping for please? Also, which wizard? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Nestle's Alpine White "Sweet Dreams" Commercials - We'd appreciate some help with the character nominations. Characters nominated are:

Dancing Girl with sparkler #1 (Nestle)

Man in Farmyard (Nestle)

Man in Sweater (Nestle Ad)

White Wolf (Nestle Ad)

Woman in Coat (Nestle Ad)

Woman in White Hood (Nestle)

Woman on Beach (Nestle)

Woman on Swing (Nestle Ad)

Could we please check if the Man in Sweater is the same as the Man in Turtleneck approved last year? We'd like to approve Dancing Girls with Sparklers as a single unit, as it's not clear which one is #1 or what distinguishes her from the others. Lastly, we think that might be a fox rather than a wolf? For anyone curious, though please note the video does contain strobing lights… If you nominated this, please link your nominations page when you reply.

Overcooked (Video Games) - Nominator, we’re not sure how “Customers (Overcooked - Video Games)” and “Passers-by (Overcooked - Video Games)” are two separate groups of characters that also cannot be distinguished from each other within the group. Can you help us understand what you were going for? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Phasmophobia (Video Game) - Nominator, could you please clarify the nomination of Ghost(s)? There seem to be several classes of ghost NPCs - we'd be willing to approve one of the other specific types, or potentially two, since you only used up three character slots. It also looks like 'Shade' is a subset of 'Ghosts' - please clarify? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Relic Master Series - Catherine Fisher - There is a group nomination for The Makers, but it appears to us that some of the makers are named and given individual characteristics. Nominator, could you choose a maker? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Riddick (2013) - Could we please get some information about how this stands alone from the rest of the Chronicles of Riddick saga? If you nominated this, please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Secret Garden - Simon/Norman - We're a little unsure if the character nomination of "the Dreamers" works, since it includes at least two named characters. Nominate, could you expand on your thinking or pick a specific character please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Soulmate Goose of Enforcement Fandom Trope (Anthropomorphic) - This is causing us some difficulty! We feel this isn’t an anthropomophic fandom, as the goose is already a character, who isn’t in need of anthropomorphising. We don’t generally approve tropes as fandoms; nominator, would it work to nominate under the original tumblr post instead? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Trash Taste (Podcast) - This podcast is nominated without characters, but it's difficult to see what you're looking for aside from RPF of the hosts, as this doesn't seem to contain a fictional narrative. Nominator, please clarify what you were hoping for? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

We Are คือเรารักกัน | We Are (Thailand TV 2024) RPF, เขาจ้างให้ผมจีบนักฆ่า | The Heart Killers (Thailand TV) RPF, รักไม่ระบุสถานะ | Dark Blue Kiss (TV) RPF, เลือดนายลมหายใจฉัน | My Golden Blood (Thailand TV 2024) RPF - Many of these characters were also nominated under GMMTV Actor RPF, so we plan to combine all of these nominations into GMMTV Actor RPF. If you're making a case for an alternate arrangement, please link your nominations page when you reply.

West Coast Avengers (Marvel Comics) - Nominator, did you mean the 2018-19 reboot series? Your character nominations seem to relate to that run, so we'd like to approve as West Coast Avengers (Comics 2018-19), assuming that matches your intention. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Zoo (TV 2015) - We can’t find the character “Alyssa Diaz”, but that seems to be one of the actresses. Did you mean the character “Dariela Marzan”? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Previous queries

13th Century CE Plantagenet Dynasty RPF - this category contains Edward II and Piers Gaveston, who are also both nominated in 14th Century CE RPF. We intend to approve these under the former category; let us know if you have concerns. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Aliens (1986) - Nominator, these characters are also nominated under the broader fandom Alien (Original Movies 1979-1997), so we would like to merge your nominations in with the rest of the original movies. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Batman: Arkham Shadow (Video Game) - we received evidence for this but would like more information, please. Could the nominator, or anyone else who knows this family of games, please help us understand how it is distinct? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

The Breakfast Club (1985) - Brian Johnson’s parents are distinct characters and so we are not willing to approve them as a unit. Nominator, would you like to pick a parent? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Chalion Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold and World of the Five Gods - Lois McMaster Bujold - given that the characters nominated under the canonical tag include some from Hallowed Hunt & the Penric and Desdemona stories, we would like to approve all of these together under World of the Five Gods. Any objections? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Corbenic (Catherine Fisher) - We won’t approve Arthur's Company Ensemble (Corbenic) as this is a group with named members. Nominator, would you like to pick one or two (since you’ve only nominated two other characters)? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Dream Cycle - H. P. Lovecraft - All characters nominated for this fandom (other than Worldbuilding) were approved last year in the fandom Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft; as we have overlapping nominations, we’d like to combine again the same way. We've heard from one nominator but would like to hear from the other. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Enchanted Forest Chronicles - Patricia Wrede - We won’t approve the character nomination Morwen's Cats (Enchanted Forest) as they are all individually named. Nominators, could you please each choose a cat? (Scorn has already been nominated, and another nominator is fine with either Trouble or Fiddlesticks.) Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Hear Me Cry (1984) (CBS Schoolbreak Special) Craig and David’s parents are distinct characters and so we are not willing to approve each set of parents as a single unit. Nominator, would you like to pick two of the four parents? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

History Boys - All Media Types - Nominator, we won’t approve this nomination as All Media Types. Would you prefer the movie or the play? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

MAIJO Otaro - Works - We don’t approve fandoms consisting of all of a creator’s works, and the nominated characters appear to come from at least 2 novels. Nominator, could you pick one of Maijō’s works to nominate, along with the associated characters? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Midsomer Murders - All Media Types - Nominator, we won't approve this nomination as All Media Types. Would you prefer TV or books? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

夢中さきみに。| Muchuu sa Kimi ni (Manga) - We also have a nomination for the Anime; the nominator of that fandom says they have not read the manga but believes these could be combined if needed. We've heard from two Manga nominators who are OK with combining under Anime & Manga; could we hear from the third please? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Oxford Time Travel Universe - Connie Willis and To Say Nothing of the Dog: or How We Found the Bishop's Bird Stump at Last - Connie Willis - To Say Nothing nominator, do you have any concerns about combining your nominations with the larger universe? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Palais de Reine (Visual Novel) - We can’t find the character “Astrud”. Nominator, is this “Astrad”, or is it just a different localization? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Terminator (Movies) and Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) - Nominators, please make your cases for splitting or combining these. May we combine them into (Movies 1984 1991 2019), since Dark Fate follows Terminator 2? Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Tron - All Media Types - We won't approve this nomination as All Media Types. Nominator, please pick a canon. Please link your nominations page when you reply.

Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Tag Set | Community DW | Community LJ | Discord | Pinch hits on Dreamwidth

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nanila

I spent my birthday on my own in Maui after the conference I attended there, and I had a brilliant time.*

My birthday treat to myself was a boat trip to Molokini crater to snorkel with the fishes, and to Turtle Town off Wailea Point to swim with the sea turtles. I got really lucky with the weather, and Cap'n Doug sailed us around the far side of Molokini so we could see the sea bird nesting sites. Then we pulled into the harbour and we were allowed to jump in the water. I don't have a waterproof camera and I also don't feel too secure snorkeling without a boogie board in hand, so I've no photos of that. But the visibility was incredible, like I remember from Hanauma Bay as a kid. I saw a tube fish and a giant parrot fish. I followed her around for a bit, listening to her chomp the coral and seeing her make sand. I saw wrasse and tangs, sea urchins and crabs, and of course the legendary Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, from whom Eldest gets her moniker. It's colourful, pugnacious, and territorial. Mmhmm.

[Approach to Molokini crater.]

[Seabird nesting sites round the back of Molokini.]

Turtle Town offered excellent fish viewing in the water as well, although to be honest it was much better watching the turtles from the boat as the view was clearer and they got quite close to the bow, where you're not allowed to snorkel.

[Sea turtle next to the tour boat.]

There were lots of older retired couples on the boat - because who else can afford $200+ plus tips for a five hour boat trip - and I could see them looking sidelong at me until finally when we were eating lunch someone sidled up to me and after some desultory introductions, asked if I was scared to travel alone. Hahaha. Nope! Very happy by myself, tyvm.

I pootled back to the hotel in the convertible Mustang** I’d hired with the top down, although “pootled” doesn’t feel like quite the right word for travelling in an absurdly ostentatious car. I had a shower to get all the sand off, liberally slathered on the after-sun, and got dressed again. I had a couple of chats with family and friends. I got myself a cold drink at the 808 market and wandered down to watch my last Maui sunset on this trip.

I got changed into a nice dress and spoke to the family before hopping in the car again to take myself to dinner: Isana in Kihei. I ingested a heroic quantity of nigiri (choice bits pictured below) and part of a silly cocktail (because driving, and that thing was strong).

( Sushi under the cut because raw fish isn't everyone's cup of tea )

I plucked up the courage to ask my waiter a very odd question. I explained to him that I’d grown up in Hawai’i, and I had happy memories of eating something we called “stinky pickle sushi” which you obviously cannot put on a menu in a nice restaurant. After he’d finished guffawing, I explained that it was pickled daikon radish in a maki roll. He said he would go ask the chef if he knew about this.

Two minutes later, he returned, placed a small black dish in front of me, and said, “Yes, chef is from Japan, he knows this ingredient. Is this it?” I popped the bright yellow rectangle into my mouth and clapped my hands with joy. The waiter returned to place my stinky pickle nori roll order. And that, my friends, was my final brave birthday treat to myself: procuring a sushi roll I have not tasted for over twenty years.

[Behold: stinky pickle maki]

* Sorry, family! We would have had a brilliant time together, too. But this conference happens during the school year, and so I was on my own. I love you guys. I also love time to myself.
** I actually wanted to hire the Mazda Miata but they didn’t have any, and also the hire car person said my giant battered old Briggs & Riley suitcase would not have fit in the boot anyway.

THE END.

nanila posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

ysabetwordsmith

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

Should tax payers have the option to explicitly say what they don’t want their tax dollars spent on?

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Current Mood: busy

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ranunculus

I had a nice chat with Lisa and scheduled another lesson with her. She is thrilled with her progress. Her horse has become nice and polite instead of rudely pushing into her space. He is yielding to her quicker and quicker. She managed a ride on him all by herself. While riding she made great progress in signalling turns and getting him to give to the bit. To understand quite how thrilled she was to do a little 25 minute ride by herself, you need to know that a couple of years ago she got thrown really badly, suffering a concussion that put her in the hospital for a couple of days. So getting on and riding -by herself- was a huge step in self confidence. I'm so happy that Lisa is putting in the work to make this all happen. Monday we will work on more on balance and I'll teach some more about turns and speeding up/slowing down the walk.

ranunculus

Yesterday afternoon I did a 4 mile hike up around Split Rock. All Trails said the elevation gain for the hike was 700+ feet. I'm out of shape.

Three 18 inch wide bridges are now finished. At some point I started calling the obstacle "The Boardwalk Z". I wrote three simple levels: 1) Walk across 1 bridge. 2) Walk across bridge 1 and bridge 2. 3) Walk across all 3 bridges. Even a pony like Firefly has feet that are 5 inches across, so an 18 inch walkway is narrow for them. Some might refuse to step on the bridge at all and spend a lot of energy dodging it. If they walk quietly across that is great, but the corners are tricky. All four feet need to stay on the bridges, no feet should touch the dirt. It takes a cooperative horse who understands that their feet should stay on the obstacle! I have to say that the carport area has turned into quite a nice shop.
After waking up at 2 am thinking of obstacles I designed another obstacle called "Flowing Circles." ( Details )
A couple of days ago we started for town, only to find a couple of trees across the driveway. Yes, down near the Main Gate, in the overgrown riparian area. A big limb had torn off a huge willow tree. I have a couple of pictures but they really don't show the willow as it is. I think the trunk is at least 36 inches in diameter. It's clear that the top had broken out years ago and much of the current growth is new. The limb fell onto an upstart Bay tree, knocking it into the drive as well . Just to complicate things there is both wild grape and poison oak crawling all over these trees. The grape is amazing, some of the vines are 50 or 60 feet into the canopy. Our neighbor Michael helped me clear the road, which, thankfully, didn't take too long.

I didn't get back to the tree on the Red Barn fence until this afternoon. The huge branch is now off the fence and a lot of it is cut up. The last little bit isn't quite all done but at least the fence can be put back up. The pasture should be safe for the horses.

Tomorrow I ride with Carrie and Carol again. This time we are flagging the trail for next Sunday. Busy, busy!

ysabetwordsmith

I made apple cider caramel sauce to put over vanilla ice cream. :D

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

In new heist video game, players return museum artifacts stolen from African countries

Set in the late 21st century, the game follows Nomali, a fast-thinking, acrobatic leader who assembles a crew of ordinary citizens-turned-thieves.

Their mission: to reclaim 70 real-life African artifacts from Western institutions and return them to their rightful homelands.

I am amused. :D And there are so many other cultures that could design similar games to retrieve their own artifacts. See, this is what we get from diverse game developers: new game plots instead of rehashes.