Reading

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Follow Friday 12-19-25: Languages and Linguistics

Today's theme is Languages and Linguistics. There are many posts on Dreamwidth in different languages, but it doesn't have a sort function for them, and communities rarely list it in their Interests. If you know any more communities or bloggers relevant to this topic, please share them in a comment.

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Poetry Fishbowl Update

fuzzyred will be closing the pool around midday Friday. The sale itself lasts until the end of Friday. If you're still shopping the Holiday Poetry Sale, now's the time to make your choices!

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Dinosaurs

Italy makes a surprising discovery ahead of the Winter Olympics: dinosaur tracks

On Tuesday, Italian officials announced the discovery of thousands of dinosaur tracks on "nearly vertical dolomite walls" in Stelvio National Park, a protected area in the central Alps of northern Italy.
[---8<---]
"The tracks, preserved in excellent condition despite the altitude, show traces of toes and claws imprinted on the walls when they were tidal flats at the end of the Triassic," the Natural History Museum says. That period spanned 252 to 201 million years ago.

Della Ferrara notified authorities of his findings, setting paleontological research into motion. Preliminary analyses suggest most of the tracks came from "herbivorous prosauropod dinosaurs" — the long-necked creatures that predate enormous sauropods like the ones depicted in the "Jurassic Park" franchise.

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Moment of Silence: Gil Gerard

Actor Gil Gerard has passed away. He was best known for playing Captain William “Buck” Rogers. He will be missed.

Carry on the work:

How to Become an Actor (with Pictures)

How to Start a Career in Acting (with Pictures)

How to Audition for a TV Show: The Ultimate Guide

Acting in Science Fiction

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Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy, chilly, windy, and wet. It's drizzling now. At least all the snow and ice melted off though.

I fed the birds. Unsurprisingly I haven't seen any.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/18/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/18/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

It's been raining off and on all day. It was raining so briskly in the afternoon that not all the outside tasks got done. Fortunately it's just drizzling now so I finished up what I could. I haven't seen any wildlife all day, which is sensible of them.

The sky has been so cloudy all day that it was perennially twilight. At sunset, the sun hit a band of less clouds, so now 3/4 of the sky is bizarre shades of orange-purple. The road is wet and catching the last light of day like a ribbon of gold.

I am done for the night.

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History

This 8,000-year-old art shows math before numbers existed

Over 8,000 years ago, early farming communities in northern Mesopotamia were already thinking mathematically—long before numbers were written down. By closely studying Halafian pottery, researchers uncovered floral and plant designs arranged with precise symmetry and numerical patterns, revealing a surprisingly advanced sense of geometry.

People learned to count and do math, sometimes rather sophisticated math, long before they got around to writing numerals or equations. As for geometry, it's very easy to obtain workable patterns that scale well by examining nature. Fibonacci sequence and fractals both yield very useful parameters.

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Birdfeeding

Today is partly sunny and chilly.

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

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Today's Adventures

Today we went shopping in Mattoon.

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Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!

threeforthememories 2025 session will be open for posts on January 3, 2026 and will run for 3 weeks until January 24. Do let others know about us, as anyone can participate by just joining the community.

Just a reminder of how the event runs:

1) Three photos only per person during each annual session. Members are encouraged to discuss the reason for their choices.

2) Photos can be hosted at Dreamwidth or elsewhere, and should not be larger than 800 px width or height.

3) All three photos should be in the same post. Cut tags should be placed after the first photo.

Three For the Memories banner

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Early Humans

Scientists reveal a 1.5-million-year-old human face

A 1.5-million-year-old face is forcing scientists to rethink the origins and diversity of early humans.

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic Homo erectus, the face and teeth resemble much older human ancestors. This discovery challenges long-held ideas about where and how Homo erectus evolved. It also hints at a complex web of migrations and possible mixing between early human species.

The actual image shows a reconstruction of the skull, rather than a paleoforensic art rendering of the face when alive. But it's still cool.

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recurring posts

Hard Things

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

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Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels

This year I've been running an experiment to see which type of pen lasts the longest for labeling plants outdoors. I have compiled links to the previous posts and added pictures from each month where I hadn't already posted them. Results: Sharpie Oil Pen lasted longest, Craft Smart Oil Pen was still legible at the end of the year, and Sharpie Permanent Marker faded very fast. If you're labeling plants outdoors, buy an oil paint pen, preferably Sharpie.

These are the other posts regarding the labels.
1/3/25 Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels
2/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
3/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
4/4/25 Photos: South Lot
5/6/25 Photos: South Lot
6/2/25 Photos: House Yard
11/3/25 Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit (labels at bottom)
Photos: House Yard 12-16-25

( Let's do science to it... )

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food,
recipe

Today's Cooking

Tonight I'm making the Candy Cane Cookies with cherry flavored candy canes. Watch for your favorite flavors this time of year and grab them while you can. This recipe should work with any candy cane flavor you like -- they are basically just a big piece of flavored sugar that you can turn back into sugar grains by bashing them in a bag.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- These turned out okay, but nowhere near as good at the original peppermint or the cinnamon. They looked pretty though, as the cherry candy canes had both red and green stripes. So it might be worth a try if you're a fan of "birthday cake" with sprinkles baking.

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Photos: House Yard

Today I took pictures of the labels I'm testing, plus a few of the snowy yard as well.

These are the other posts regarding the labels. I need to make a post that shows them all in sequence; not everything has been posted yet.
1/3/25 Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels
2/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
3/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
4/4/25 Photos: South Lot
5/6/25 Photos: South Lot
6/2/25 Photos: House Yard
11/3/25 Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit (labels at bottom)

( Walk with me ... )

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Food

Parents find Health Star Ratings confusing and unhelpful. We need a better food labelling system (Australia)

Food labels are intended to support healthy choices. But not all labelling schemes are equal.

Australia currently uses a voluntary Health Star Rating system. Food manufacturers can choose to add a star label to their packaging to indicate how it compares to other similar products. Or they can choose not to show a star rating on a product at all.

How satisfied are you with the food labeling option(s) available where you live? If you also buy imported foods, what do you think about labels from other countries?

What kind of traits do you pay attention to in food shopping? Are they easy to find on labels, harder to find, not listed, or actually forbidden to list?

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Birdfeeding

Today is sunny and considerably less cold -- ice is melting in places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I took a few pictures around the yard, including the plant labels I'm tracking.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I potted 4 Granny Smith apple seeds that already split open, and stored 3 more in a baggie of damp sand in the fridge.

One of the Pink apple sprouts that I planted earlier has surfaced and opened tiny leaves. \o/ (Note that this will not make a Pink apple, since it is a seedling not a clone, but if it lives then it should produce decent dessert apples of some sort.)

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

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

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Pool Open!

fuzzyred is hosting a pool for the Holiday Poetry Sale. There are no individual poem targets yet, just a general discussion of some favorite areas. If you're shopping for poetry, dive in!

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thoughts about journaling and the value of data

I believe all data is valuable--not in a monetary sense, but in the sense of keeping diverse records. ( holy crap this is long )

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Holiday Poetry Sale

The Holiday Poetry Sale is now open on LiveJournal. Sponsors, start your engines! It runs Monday, December 15-Friday, December 19. All listed poems are half-price. If you spend $100 or more, you get the quarter-price rate. Watch to see if someone opens a pool; there is usually one for this event.

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Conservation

Coffee-driven deforestation is making it harder to grow coffee, watchdog group says

Scientists have shown how deforestation leads to less rainfall in tropical rainforests. That's because the trees there soak up and release moisture, which rises to create clouds and more rain. Cutting down trees disrupts the cycle, reducing rainfall and leading to drought.

Drought, of course, makes it harder to grow coffee.

"When you kill the forest, you're actually also killing the rains, which is exactly what your crop needs to thrive in the long run," Higonnet says. "Even for people who don't much care about climate change and mass extinction, if they drink coffee and care about having coffee in the long run, this should be very scary for them."

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