Network

Athletes on parade

Months ago I got rid of the cable connection for the TV. I have been doing OK with Netflix and a couple of other streaming services, plus watching Channel 2 live stream on the laptop, but it was getting to be Olympics time. I bought an indoor HDTV antenna and installed it all by myself. Now I can watch broadcast networks.
Two hours in to the delayed-to-primetime coverage of the opening ceremony NBC I am already irritated by their coverage but I knew what to expect. The ceremony organizers have done a clever thing for the parade of athletes. The primary division of sports is that indoor icy things are happening in Milan while outdoor snowy things are happening in Cortina, more than 200 miles away. The main ceremony is in an arena in Milan but they didn't haul the snow folks down for the ceremony - at each location the relevant athletes are marching (dancing, grooving) through Stargates (my thought, not what they are calling them). In Cortina they are walking down a street with people on either side like crowds watching a road race.
Sorry about the photographer's watermark/copyright thing. I couldn't find images from Cortina that didn't have it.

I like the Haitian uniforms the best and was sorry to learn earlier today that they were required to remove the portrait of Toussaint Louverture.

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-olympics-uniforms-winter-games-diversity-f85baa15a623fadbc15569325efc61b5

I like the Mongolian ones a lot too (see above). Many counties have nice ones.

Watching network TV means I am getting commercials. My favorite so far is one for Chevrolet, using the song from my childhood ("see the USA in your Chevrolet. America is asking you to call"). I sang along. It will not make me buy a new car.

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2/6/2026 Valle Vista Staging Area

The three of us went out to Valle Vista today and had an even better day than I did three days ago. It was another beautiful morning, and we walked both Riche Loop and out to the south gate. I missed a few birds they saw mostly because the path all the way to the shoreline was just a little too uneven for me. One highlight was a beautiful Cooper's Hawk high in a tree in clear view making a vocalization I hadn't heard since a long ago Yolo Bypass trip with Denise. The other was when U found a Lincoln Sparrow, as she so often does.:) I got a good diagnostic view of it, which I frequently do not. ( The list: )

Unfortunately the Bald Eagles did not appear for U and Chris. OTOH, neither did the Northern Mockingbird.:)

Pixel Scroll 2/6/26 Pixel Scroll Powers Activate!

Posted by Mike Glyer

https://file770.com/pixel-scroll-2-6-26-pixel-scroll-powers-activate/

https://file770.com/?p=128462

(0) This will be an undersized Scroll – but you don’t have to throw it back! I learned today an old friend, Lee Speth, died a couple of days ago and I got sidelined for several hours rereading about old … Continue reading →

https://file770.com/pixel-scroll-2-6-26-pixel-scroll-powers-activate/

https://file770.com/?p=128462

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Daily Happiness

1. It's the weekend! And I went in to the office this morning but was able to come home by mid afternoon, so that was nice.

2. We're having home made pizza for dinner again. Same Korean bbq flavor spam and roasted corn as last time, but this time I did not forget the edamame. In fact, I specifically put this on the dinner menu the night after a night when we were having edamame as a side dish with something else, so we'd already have some leftover that I could just add on top of the pizza!

3. It's warm, but it's still blanket weather for Chloe.

Current Mood: accomplished

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New Heated Rivalry fic: "Jackie"

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rl_26,
techy

(no subject)

Bloody Chrome bugs me to update it, and starts turning itself off to make me do it. And of course you should never update because who knows what crap they'll put on your machine. But I have limited patience with sudden! black screens so ok I update. And now all the fonts are bitsy little things which I can enlarge with zoom but then the line goes off the screen. Other people can change fonts in Chrome but my version doesn't give me the option. My phone will let me turn everything sideways so I have a longer screen but not this tablet. Other people can get rid of the AI button but I can't unless I change my search engine. I can no longer turn on those time-wasting little Discover news stories on the main page with one click: I need to go through a couple of screens, to find it and then I can't turn it off. Which I suppose is fine, I don't need to read Twisted Sister and that ilk, but they do occasionally have legit news. So now I'll probably be on Facebook more because their fonts aren't changed, and be watching more tiktok vids. This is not the optimal outcome. Oh, and will be discovering for the next week all the places the update logged me out of. It was pure chance that I found a way to log me back onto LJ.

Feh. Also ptui. Must rethink gettig a Chromebook, but what else is there?

The carpet of salt the city put down kept the sidewalks clear even with the inch of snow we had last night. I was all prepared to head out to a restaurant but my phone was low on charge. And while it was charging I thought better of it and ordered in instead: chicken vermicelli with lots of veggies which I know will do me two meals. Because if I go out I will drink and I might at least try to make it through a whole month. January wasn't a dry month because I had vodka coolers up until the middle. But I did at least succeed in getting the recycle bin free of its snow so I can put it out on Thursday. As ever there's no guarantee it will get picked up on Thursday but that's another problem for another day.

Clipper winds are bringing in another polar vortex so will not be going anywhere this weekend. Have turned basement taps back on for the duration.

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Day 6: Fic Self-Rec - Hey Arnold! - Helga Pataki, Lila Sawyer

Title/Link: Friend Indeed
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki, Lila Sawyer
Rating: Teen and Up
Prompt: Her Own Personal Code
Summary: The law wasn't always fair or moral, and sometimes you had to follow your own code.

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Day 5: Fic Self-Rec - Hey Arnold! - Helga Pataki

Title/Link: Getting Out
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki
Rating: Teen and Up
Prompt: The Outlaw
Summary: Dark AU future fic. She’d always wanted to travel the world with him.

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daily

Daily Check In.

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

Poll #34190 Daily poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 21

How are you doing?

I am okay
13 (61.9%)

I am not okay, but don't need help right now
8 (38.1%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans are you living with?

I am living single
8 (38.1%)

One other person
9 (42.9%)

More than one other person
4 (19.0%)

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.

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Venom #253

The aim of the game, the goal -- and I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it, I don’t think it’s within my powers -- is to turn Paul into a sort of adorable sitcom dweeb. To kind of defang him, to remove his power, to remove this kind of toxic power he has over the readership. -- Al Ewing

( Read more... )

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Day 4: Fic Self-Rec - Hey Arnold - Helga Pataki, Olga Pataki

Title/Link: Shelter
Fandom: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga Pataki, Olga Pataki, Grandma "Pookie" Gertie, others
Rating: Teen and Up
Prompt: Needs
Summary: AU fic. Grandma Gertie makes sure that anyone who needs shelter has it. Very slight h/t to the movie It Happened on Fifth Avenue.

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.fanfic

Day 6: Fic - Starfleet Academy - Sam

I was originally gonna skip this prompt because I couldn't figure out who to write, but then I watched last night's new Starfleet Academy episode, and decided I could be really literal with interpreting "her own personal code" as a prompt 😁 (anyway, no spoilers for episode 5 here)

Title: Technicalities
Fandom: Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
Character: Sam (Series Acclimation Mil)
Rating: G
Length: 150 words
Summary: Sam contemplates a question while waiting for her friends
Link: here on ao3 or you can read it under the cut below

( Read more... )

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Viens, Mallika -- Marianne Crebassa & Sabine Devieilhe (Delibes)

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dance

How to Like Ballet, Part 1

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[Amnesty] Claiming What Is Owed (FFXV and FFXVI, Clive and Noctis)

Yay amnesty! I'm only just coming back to this comm and putting together a prompt list, so I appreciate being able to participate regardless.

Title: Claiming What Is Owed
Fandom: FFXV and FFXVI
Pairing/Characters: Noctis Lucis Caelum, Clive Rosfield
Content Notes: Significant end game spoilers for both games; I suppose I technically need to tag this "choose not to warn" to avoid going into any further details on that, but if you know you know, it's all canonical.
Prompt: September 1 2025 - Noctis & Clive - "and they lived happily ever after"

~ Fic posted on my personal DW here ~

Current Mood: ecstatic

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okay

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A Scence Fiction Anthology for Today's Youth?

From this thread at Bluesky - When people ask how to get into GA SF I always say that the right way is via some of those fat "Best Of" short fiction collections.

Long discussion, many comments, mostly agreeing that yep, the way to get people into SF is anthologies, not novels, especially "best of" anthologies rather than whatever theme-of-the-day was popular. Also many people agreeing that many of "the classics" do not hold up today, and "Heinlein juveniles + the Foundation trilogy" is not a good suggestion for a young teen who might be interested in scifi now.

So... if you were building an anthology of The Great Science Fiction, with a focus specifically on non-SF readers who might be interested, what would you put in it?

( Some limitations may be in order )

Current Mood: grateful

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Heated Rivalry ICE OUT: Donations Period Open until Feb. 14th

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[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: Hits close to home, this one.

|| Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes ||

Birhan was still staring at Etain as if he was debating whether to go and grab his pitchfork. “Republic my rump,” he said. “Them’s no different to Neimies when it comes to it. We’ll still be bottom of the pile whoever runs the show.”
•───────•°•❀•°•───────•

I feel you, Birhan from the bottom of my own heart.

EDIT:
Birhan panics and wants to drive away Etain, but Jinarts prevents it by saying that he shouldn't make enemies of the Jedi and Jinart even touches a soft spot: The Jedi can use their Force powers to nurture plants. And this works. It seems Birhan tries to think about long-term plans, maybe in hope, that there is life outside of this life poverty, neverending-work with no benefit. If he makes the right decision RIGHT NOW by not giving up on Etain, then maybe he will gain potential help in the future.

And I think tis is very interesting paralel between Birhan and Darman. Darman lives in his short-sigthed soldier life but tried to break through his conditioning. And the farmer, Birhan tried to break through his own short-sightedness. If you think about, when your very basic needs aren't met (no safety, no stability, no food, your life is in constant peril), you don't have space for caring about others either.

Both Darman and Birhan thought about long-term investsments when helping to people. But I think it's more than that. It's compassion, hid behind layers and layers of logic and practicality.

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第五年第二十八天

部首
手 part 14
抛, to cast away; 拌, to mix; 拍, to pat/to photograph/racket ( pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=64

词汇
词汇, vocabulary (pinyin in tags)
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-4-word-list/

Guardian:
我不太喜欢拍照, I don't really like photographs
[no 词汇]

Me:
他话都没说，只能拍拍肩膀安慰一下。
到周五你们得把这些词汇背诵好。

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photography

Mike Bennett's Workshop

I've photographed his work a LOT over the past several years, and yesterday I saw him in the wild... or rather leaving his new workshop location. I wanted to repost some pictures of I've taken of his stuff over the years for context, but that's the downside to my main photography folder being 34,154 Files in 517 Folders. That's far from every photo I've ever taken, only select photos go in. I have spent time organizing it, but... not enough?

Anyway, you can get his vibe from these pics I think.

Where the magic happens:

He runs the sticker, keychain and pin exchanges across Portland. He did the Crypto-zoo, Dinotopia, The Portland Aquarium and runs the Wonderwood Springs D&D/RPG themed cafe in St Johns. I know I've posted about that place and can picture the images, but I cannot find them right now. I might need to start a dedicated Mike Bennett folder. Originally known online as Regional Memesmith, he is part of the fabric of the Portland arts scene.

( Wait, remembering his old psued jogged a memory )