solarbird | Network

I do want to warn people, this first FilkCONbobulated will be very Iowa-centric. Our GOH is from Iowa, the songwriting contest will be Iowa based, even the final Filk Sunday night will be the soon to be famous Corn Dog Filk!

We're going to have one track of programming. Right now we have two rooms and the con suite. We will expand that if needed. One of those rooms will be where most of the programming will happen, the other will be 24 hour a day open filk, but we will probably move the Instrument Petting Zoo there. Easier to set up and tear down.

What's going on ...

Concerts from our GOHs
Workshops, if you are interested in running a workshop, let us know. If you have already mentioned it to one of us, talk to us again. My email address is on the website.
One shots and/or twofers
An Instrument Petting Zoo
The Corn Filker Contest, the prompts will be announced at opening ceremonies. Songs will be performed Sunday afternoon.
It looks like we will have a CD release party at the con. More on that later.
Theme Circles, if you want to run a theme circle, let us know.
An Interfilk Auction, please bring stuff for it.
24 hour a day filking, that room will most likely be a non-recording room.
A Final Jam.
Sunday evening we will have the soon to be famous Corn Dog Filk!

We are working on getting a food map set up. There are a lot of choices up and down Merle Hay Road.

I am looking for someone to help run sound, especially to help set up microphones for the one shots and twofers.

Registration is open, and the room block is as well. Follow the links on the website.

filkconbobulated.org

cyberghostface posting in

scans_daily

Sam Kieth has passed away at the age of 63. He was the creator of Maxx and the co-creator of Sandman.

More info here.

Some art:

( Images under the cut… )

mific

OMG Charlotte Stant's fic is SO FUCKING GOOD! Heaven is a Bedroom - Shane's a mormon missionary door-knocking with his fellow-elder Hayden and Ilya and Marley are roommates living in a house on their route. It's funny, incredibly hot, poignant and the most incredible complete AU, just wonderful writing. I want to have this fic's babies.

sallymn posting in

1word1day

Sunday Word: Pecuniary

pecuniary [pi-kyoo-nee-er-ee]

adjective:
1 of or relating to money
2 consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments
3 (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine

Examples:

By night, she lives alongside four other young women on the top floor in the May Of Teck club which 'exists for the Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means below the age of Thirty Years, who are obliged to reside apart from their Families in order to follow an Occupation in London'. (Claire Wood, Poignant, punchy staging captures Spark’s smart, sassy girls of slender means, The Wee Review, April 2024)

As a result, the claimant requested that a pecuniary sanction be imposed on the respondent for its continued refusal to comply with the arbitral tribunal's order. (Oliver Cojo and Angela Portocarrero, Fine line? A New Case on Arbitrators' Power to Impose Sanctions, Kluwer Arbitration Blog, May 2022)

But to deliberately throw up roadblocks that prevent easy comparisons is to turn up an institution's collective nose at anyone with even the mildest pecuniary concerns. (Ron Lieber, Concealing the Calculus of Higher Education, The New York Times, January 2016)

In Nevada, 'no person actively engaged or having a direct pecuniary interest in gaming activities shall be a member' of the Nevada Gaming Commission, according to state law. (Dana Gentry, Murren's donning of multiple hats may prove problematic, Nevada Current, December 2024)

But they, Exalted Creatures! scorned to reflect a moment on their pecuniary Distresses and would have blushed at the idea of paying their Debts.--Alas! (Jane Austen, Love and Friendship)

I had passed over the manner in which this person had remarked that I was more than twenty-one, and that I had no pecuniary interest in my aunt's Will. (Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone)

(click to enlarge)
Origin:
c 1500, 'consisting of money;' 1620s, 'relating to money,' from Latin pecuniarius 'pertaining to money,' from pecunia 'money, property, wealth,' from pecu 'cattle, flock,' from PIE root peku- 'wealth, movable property, livestock' (source of Sanskrit pasu- 'cattle,' Gothic faihu 'money, fortune,' Old English feoh 'cattle, money'). Livestock was the measure of wealth in the ancient world, and Rome was essentially a farmer's community. That pecunia was literally 'wealth in cattle' was still apparent to Cicero. An earlier adjective in English was pecunier (early 15c; mid-14c in Anglo-French), from Old French; also pecunial (late 14c) (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Pecuniary first appeared in English in the early 16th century and comes from the Latin word pecunia, which means 'money.' Both this root and Latin peculium, which means 'private property,' are related to the Latin noun for cattle, pecus. Among Latin speakers (as among many other populations, past and present) cattle were viewed as a trading commodity, and property was often valued in terms of cattle. Pecunia has also given us impecunious, a word meaning 'having little or no money,' while peculium gave us peculate, a synonym for embezzle. In peculium you might also recognize the word peculiar, which originally meant 'characteristic of only one' or 'distinctive' before acquiring its current meaning of 'strange.' (Merriam-Webster)

rolanni

What went before:

Also, this happened:

#
Saturday. Sunny and warm. I think. I haven't been out. In fact, I not only slept late, I lay in bed, snuggled with cats, and read my email, so I'm just now getting up and around.

Today's big plan is to make focaccia and maybe read or maybe... No, I don't think I'll write anything today. I do need to do some research but that can maybe wait. Maybe I'll finish my embroidery project and see how that turns out.

As you can see my plans are firm.

How's everybody doing today?
#
Focaccia happened. Yes, it tastes every bit as good as it looks.

#
Had a very strange experience -- I can't get into either Bank of America or Discover to get my statements for monies due in early April, which is only a problem because neither one of those entities sent me a reminder that I had a new bill, and I happened to notice that now that my head isn't filled up with BOOK.

Discover says that it's really terribly sorry but it can't complete "that operation" (which would be logging in) right now. Bank of America, ever charming, says that I phucked up my ID or my password or maybe both? And it might let me in if I give it my social security number, which, err. No.

So! I have two phone calls to make on Monday, lucky me.

In other news, I'm on what ought to be my last four meals from Cook Unity, delivered yesterday. Today, I had the shrimp grain bowl, which was...OK, I guess. I had six shrimp and got bored with them, so I chopped up the leftover ones, and I'll be having a shrimp salad sandwich for the evening meal.

Also we here in Central Maine are under an Active Weather Advisory and warned to look out for between 3 and 6 inches of snow on the overnight. Honestly, March.

And now? I'm going to go embroider.
#
So, I finished my first! ever! concept-to-finished-piece embroidery project and!

I learned some stuff.

The first thing I learned is that I made this too small, in terms of the current states of my eyesight and the steadiness of my hand. Next time, I WILL go bigger, even if it means I can't get the whole design inside the hoop at once.

I also learned -- actually, I knew this -- white-on-white is hard to read. Duh.

But! and most importantly!

I learned that it Can Be Done.

Which means I can Do It Again.

I should report that Tali and Rook joined me in the living room while I finished this up. Rook sat on my lap and didn't even try to mess the thread. He just kinda curled up and went to sleep.

#
So, that was a nice day off-ish. Tomorrow, I will start to read Kin Right, and will also plan on clearing off the top of my desk -- yes, again.

My next embroidery project is a pre-printed sampler -- that's it, just the design. So, my next step, now that's in the hoop, is to make a yarn/floss card. Which means I need to dig out the Big Bag of Floss. Later.

For right now, I'm going to pour myself a glass of wine and see about making that shrimp salad sandwich.

Everybody have a good evening. I'll check in tomorrow.

bluapapilio

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

Current Mood: uncomfortable

senmut

AO3 Link | Distraction from Grief (200 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sandra Wu-San, Dinah Lance
Additional Tags: Double Drabble, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis, [Birds of Prey Vol. 1 - 1999-2009]
Summary:

Shiva pushes, so Dinah can put it behind.

Distraction from Grief

Move. Evaluate. Decide. Commit.

Shiva was making her work through her grief for Sensei in the way that mattered, now that they had foiled Cheshire's plan. Both of them excelled in the Arts, but the difference was being felt in every muscle, joint, and tendon as Dinah worked through the spar.

Shiva was a master, effortless in blending her many forms to always meet any rally that Dinah made, preventing Dinah from winning. Yet, Dinah also recognized that Shiva was having to rely on that blending to keep the upper hand.

In a formal, single style spar, Dinah and Shiva would likely be evenly matched.

Like this?

Dinah had to smile, a genuine one, to be pushed so far, so hard, so long.

Was that what Shiva had been waiting for? As the next move saw Dinah on the mats and Shiva pinning her, full length, hand in knife-strike pose at her throat.

"You choose life, not dwelling on death," Shiva purred, and damned if that didn't make Dinah remember other aspects of living that were worthwhile.

"Care to live a little with me, grab a hot soak, some good food?"

"Sensualist."

And yet, they moved together in that plan.

james

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james

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

rosa_heartlily

This time last year I was pondering other job roles and PMO stuff we don't do because we're IT, clearing out another cupboard, and finishing up GoW:R.

Today started with real coffee and crumpets. I had a conversation on Thursday about instant coffee brands. L'Or and Douwe Egberts are drinkable, Nescafe is vile, and Mellow Birds is... well NOT coffee.

Then we sat outside in the spring sunshine. Such a different day from yesterday when the fog was so thick I couldn't see the Anglican Cathedral from across the road! I pulled up a few more weeds from the gravel. They are definitely playing hide-and-seek with me...

Liverpool were the early kick-off, so I finished Season: A Letter to the Future. It is the kind of game that values your time. I got all the trophies, just by being curious and poking around - but there was no Plat 'you got all the trophies' trophy, just a gold 'you finished the game' trophy. I think it took 7-8 hours...? I could have finished it quicker if I hadn't investigated so much, and I could have taken longer to finish all the pages in my journal. Oh, and I am very comfortable with my final choice - and I don't think I'll find a video showing the other one. It feels... unnecessary. It's a beautifully crafted little game with a sense of melancholy hanging over everything - but there's hope there, too. And definitely scope for a sequel.

Tonight I started a new playthrough for Veilguard. I'm a male elf mage from the Lords of Fortune. I had expected him to be a bit of a wimp but... turns out he's snarky and hits first, asks questions later. He can still be overawed by Solas as time goes on, though. Oh, and being from LoF, he's definitely amoral, so I'm going to have him flirt with EVERYONE ;)

I've just watched another couple of episodes of Watson. Don't know what his sidekick's up to, or why...

We had a video call with Daughter and the kidlings. As an aside, apparently Elder Grandson recently had a girlfriend - for a whole 2 days! Daughter's description of her suggests EG was punching above his weight. Not sure how it went south so quickly, though.

Granddaughter continues to be very chatty without using recognisable words. As D put it, she doesn't talk but definitely answers back! She and Younger Grandson were playing on their little slide, which they're already growing out of. At first, they both sat on it to go down, but then YG decided to go down face-first - quickly followed by GD! Next thing, YG is lying at full stretch on the slide but not sliding, and GD lifted up his feet and pushed him down! Dragon, daughter of a Dragon, AND a Leo...

Some faith-adjacent thoughts that have been rattling round my head the last couple of days. Firstly... The March with Jesus, which apparently had more people protesting it than joining it. Which is a Good Thing. Jesus would not recognise these people as being in any way connected to him. In what universe do you think Jesus HATES people?! Let alone immigrants (remember Jesus was a refugee...) or, indeed, anyone on the margins (you know who Jesus hung out with, right?). I will never understand how people read the same Bible I read and come to such different conclusions.

Secondly, the government has decriminalised abortion up to full term, which the RC church is speaking out against. Now, I admit it makes me uncomfortable to think of someone having a termination that late, but what must their circumstances be for that to be their only option? I maintain that nobody thinks abortion is a GOOD thing - but sometimes it's necessary. And in the majority of cases, it's a failure of society to be able to support it's citizens, rather than a personal failing on the part of the person selecting that option.

Current Mood: loved
Current Location: bedroom

chazzbanner

A few years ago I searched YouTube for the 50s tv show Mr. Peepers, starring Wally Cox. This was on well before my time, but I think oldest sister talked about it so to me it had the glow of tv myth. :-)

I found an episode that included a tea party, and was startled to recognize one of the actresses by her voice. It was Marion Lorne. Now, she's very well known from Bewitched, but I can't say I was an avid Bewitched fan.

In the meantime I watched Strangers on a Train, then forgot that she was in it! She played Bruno's mother, Bruno being the charming psychopath played by Robert Walker. Hitchcock considered her scenes with Walker to be some of the best in the film. I found a clip.

(The transition to the scene is from a fake-but-dangerous pretend strangling at a party. One view of Bruno's hands to another.)

Watch on YouTube

(This is the 3rd of 10 Strangers clips, it's not being given a score of 3 out of 10!)

-

sanguinity

Life has been very busy and I am behind on posting all the things, but this morning I had a few free hours. I spent it writing fic.

Better than Tons of Gold and Cases of Diamonds

The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas for PhoenixFalls
Edmond Dantès/Abbé Faria
Imprisonment, Canon Compliant, Making the Subtext Text, No Betas We Die Like Abbé Faria
Major Character death, 1300 words

Dantès swore that nothing but death would part them. Nothing but death did. Scenes from a sort of marriage.

The last couple of weeks, I've been reading The Count of Monte Cristo with

monte-cristo-daily. We're only just past the Château d'If, so please don't spoil me, I know nothing. (Right now Dantès is buying everyone boats: I heartily approve!)

But from the moment Abbé Faria was introduced, I shipped it. Alas, when I turned to AO3, I discovered this was a "when not even the sickos on AO3 have your back" kind of moment. So I fixed that. ;-)

Inaugural post for the 'ship, hooray!

musesfool

I made this Shanghai scallion flatbread this afternoon and it is really good but if you should endeavor to make it, I have 2 warnings:

1. whatever you think is "medium heat" when you're cooking it is too high. No, lower than that. Or don't go the full 12 minutes recommended, but I think that might be harder to gauge.

2. be careful when flipping it over! Remember that sesame seeds will pop in hot oil and things will spatter, so really and truly, be careful!

Otherwise, it's delicious, A++ will make again. On lower heat next time. The only thing I did differently was use toasted sesame oil on the inside before I put the scallions on. Also, I think it could hold more than 1/2 cup of chopped scallions, but that is just me. Oh, and I used five spice powder instead of ground Sichuan peppercorns because I don't like that much heat and so I do not actually have Sichuan peppercorns in the house. Anyway, I did it all by hand and it was easy enough. I can't recommend a Danish dough whisk enough if you enjoy making bread and don't have a stand mixer.

I had big plans to also make blood orange gelato - blood oranges are in season right now and on sale! but the ones I got are like, bruised to hell, so that is probably why the sale price - but I don't have room in the freezer for it. Bah. Pre-made chicken tenders were also on sale and I bought them to make for lunch this week and they are taking up a lot of space (there are only about 12 in the bag but the bag is enormous. so annoying! I suppose I could rebag them in something less full of air. Hmm...). Anyway, I am contemplating zesting and juicing the oranges and freezing that, but again, space is at a premium in there. One day I will have a full-size fridge. or a chest freezer. Either way. and I will be so happy.

Soon, I will take the rack of babyback ribs I bought this week (not on sale alas) and give them a dry rub before they go back into the fridge overnight to be roasted low and slow tomorrow. And in the morning, before I have to devote 4 hours of oven-time to the ribs, I plan to make pecan shortbread because I still have like 2 lbs of pecans from my Christmas candied pecans project. It's an Ina Garten recipe, so I anticipate it will be good! And I will eat a few of them for breakfast each morning next week.

And after reblogging this post, I have also been contemplating making gyoza for Easter since I'll have a 4-day weekend and could do it in stages, though I have never done it and don't know how to pleat them so I'm going to have to watch some videos - any recs for that? I'll also try to clear out some space in the freezer to freeze some for later. *g* But they look so good! I do love a dumpling.

*

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Mrs Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel

ffutures

Just heard that Nicholas Brendan, who played Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, died on the 20th, apparently of natural causes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Brendon

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/nicholas-brendon-dead-buffy-vampire-slayer-b2943051.html

To me he was always the best viewpoint character for the show, the normal guy who was doing his best to cope with the sheer insanity of living on the mouth of hell, but some people seen to think that that wasn't sufficiently cool and and that Xander should have had superpowers far beyond anyone else in the show. I'm afraid that they're missing the point; he was the closest to normal of a team that was otherwise super-powered to some extent, and the best bridge between our world and theirs, and he played the role spectacularly well. He'll be missed.

loganberrybunny

Public

Zero (2022)
Sci-fi thriller | Letterboxd 2.0/5 | IMDb 4.5/10 | BBFC N/A

I was pretty disappointed in this BBC Films production. In 2045 Britain, adults have fled to "the Mainland", and children must fend for themselves. Two sisters try to cope. I'm all for dystopian sci-fi, but this is just relentlessly grim. Washed-out colours, derelict buildings, sexual violence with a hint of Handmaid's Tale, you get the idea. The acting is acceptable but no more, and added to the uneven script and obviously limited budget, this feels more like a TV series for teens from the 1990s than anything with real ambition. The short running time (68 minutes) means there's no room for any real explanation of what's happened; even if that's deliberate, the result is more confusing and bleak than chilling and memorable. ★★

Current Mood: disappointed

profiterole_reads

The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley (The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, The Kingdoms, The Half Life of Valery K, The Mars House) was wonderful! A Theban knight starts spending time with a witch, who might very well be a God.

Natasha Pulley's fantasy novels lean towards magical realism, and it's quite fascinating to read a magical realism approach to Greek mythology. Also, there's a little linguistics as usual, which I adore.

There's major m/m, as well as a non-binary blind prophet.

moon_custafer

The world continues to be lousy, but at least winter is drawing to an end.

On a self-centred level, I’m happy to finally have a paying gig for a bit. The assignment is officially for about two months, but the agency said it might get extended, and the temp I’m replacing has been there since last August and is leaving now only because she got a permanent offer from a different company closer to her home in Oakville (and in trucking logistics, which is her chosen specialty). She told me it’s a pleasant work environment and the staff are all pretty nice; adding “and I’m a real bitch, so I don’t say that about just anybody.” My first week seemed to bear this out. Also the employee kitchen has good snacks (keeping it stocked is one of my duties): fresh fruit, granola bars, yogurt cups, instant oatmeal packets—so I won’t have to pack or buy myself any breakfasts as long as I’m working there.

muccamukk

( Content note: harm to knitting. )

sholio

I posted some more Babylon 5 fic in the last couple of days: a new Londo/G'Kar fake dating fic plus a new chapter of the B5 catacomb WIP.

It's been a year this month since I started watching the show - my first post under the B5 tag was posted March 3, 2025 after watching the first couple of episodes. Still completely gone on it! I regret nothing!

In other news, NYT gift link to an article about Paul Brainerd, creator of Aldus PageMaker and inventor of the term "desktop publishing." This was a fascinating nostalgia read for me because, while I had no idea of the actual history, this guy (and Adobe and Apple) created the professional world of my young adulthood. My first job out of college in (I think) 1998 was working in the layout department of a newspaper that had just recently (last few years) gone from paste-up to an all-Mac layout room using a program similar to PageMaker from a third-party software maker that no longer exists. PageMaker - which I also learned to use in the college computer lab, and later at work - was the direct predecessor of InDesign, widely used even today. It's interesting to think back on those old newspaper days and how thoroughly they shaped me and continue to shape me. The computer/layout/marketing experience I got as a layout artist in the late 90s and 2000s has been immensely useful for my current self-publishing career.

It continues to be horrendously cold. We've been sitting under a high-pressure ridge and have had gorgeous sunny days that are absolutely freezing. It was -20F when I got up this morning and it's 0F out there right now. My husband's (uni-age) students are over here today because they wanted to help him dig out an ancient non-working snowblower that someone gave us ages ago from a snowbank and try to get it working again. (We do actually have TWO other snowblowers. This is just for fun.)

I took this picture on a walk up our driveway to the highway to get the mail a couple of days ago:

a long expanse of snow-covered road with piles of snow on each side

At least at this time of year, the sun warms it up SOMEWHAT during the day - in January it can sit at -40 24/7 for weeks; at this time of year we're still experiencing 20-40 degree increases during the day .... which is still barely enough to push us above 0F. The 10-day forecast shows that it will be glacially (haha) warming up, but still may not have crawled into above-freezing temps by the end of the month. UGH, I'M READY FOR SPRING.

ysabetwordsmith

This crocodile ran like a greyhound across prehistoric Britain 200 million years ago

A newly discovered Triassic reptile from the UK looked more like a racing greyhound than a crocodile, built for speed on land. With long legs and a lightweight body, it hunted small animals in a dry, upland environment millions of years ago. Scientists identified it as a new species after spotting key differences in its fossils. It’s also a tribute to an inspiring teacher who helped spark a future scientist’s curiosity.

Peculiar Obligations has several such species called galloping crocodiles, hoofed crocodiles, or hoofers.

Current Mood: busy

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solarbird

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収束ゾーンでのライフ: Life in the Convergence Zone

cheers, love - the cavalry's queer!

Network

FilkCONbobulated Update

R.I.P. Sam Kieth

New Charlotte Stant HR fic out - run, don't walk!

Sunday Word: Pecuniary

On concluding projects

🌈BL Manga Check-in: "Amattare wa Inu mo Kuwanai"

10trueloves: loss

Flonase

Ch-ch-changes

Quite the handful...

Bruno's mom

Fic: The Count of Monte Cristo

we'd like to help you learn to help yourself

RIP Nicholas Brendan

Film post: Zero (2022)

The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley

Weekend Report

A Tragedy in Two Acts

A quiet Saturday

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March 2026

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