solarbird | Network

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-recession-people-class.html

Class identity, which is how individuals view their economic and social positions in relation to others, has wide-ranging effects on people's well-being, thoughts, and behavior. Previous studies have shown that people who identify with a higher class have better physical and emotional health, tend to vote more conservatively, and have a more optimistic view of society.

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-recession-people-class.html

phys_social_feed

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-uk-banking-industry-interventions-economic.html

Researchers have published the findings of a new study that brought together victim–survivors and banking professionals to co-design ways of preventing economic abuse in the U.K. banking industry.

https://phys.org/news/2025-12-uk-banking-industry-interventions-economic.html

splash_of_blue posting in

ways_back_room

Monday all! And a very happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating.

What are everyone's holiday plans?

What holidays do your characters celebrate, and how?

michaelgeistsblog_feed

Posted by Michael Geist

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2025/12/the-law-bytes-podcast-episode-254-looking-back-at-the-year-in-canadian-digital-law-and-policy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-law-bytes-podcast-episode-254-looking-back-at-the-year-in-canadian-digital-law-and-policy

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/?p=21285

Canadian digital law and policy in 2025 was marked by the unpredictable with changes in leadership in Canada and the U.S. driving a shift in policy approach. Over the past year, that included a reversal on the digital services tax, the re-introduction of lawful access legislation, and the end of several government digital policy bills including online harms, privacy, and AI regulation. For this final Law Bytes podcast of 2025, I go solo without a guest to talk about the most significant developments in Canadian digital policy from the past year.

The podcast can be downloaded here, accessed on YouTube, and is embedded below. Subscribe to the podcast via Apple Podcast, Spotify or the RSS feed. Updates on the podcast on X/Twitter at @Lawbytespod.

The post The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 254: Looking Back at the Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy appeared first on Michael Geist.

https://www.michaelgeist.ca/?p=21285

yhlee

Watch on YouTube

Orchestral mockup WIP featuring a "drunken" viola (Amati Viola). Because sometimes violas want to /burn longer/ have fun too. [1]

Trailure = "failure trailer." This is, fortunately, personal work at this point :) but my last composition summative assignment involved converging incrementally toward trailer format by getting all the errors out of the way one by one. I think the only thing I DIDN'T do was a cappella kazoo ensemble. :p

Meanwhile, back to Candle Arc 2D animation shenanigans: I have vocals recorded for one character, which means I can start nailing down timing on the animatic for lip sync. Still (joyfully) buried under composition/orchestration schoolwork! :3

[1] I was a student violist many a moon ago. :)

https://deuceofgears.bandcamp.com/

for the morbidly curious. :3

fox

We're halfway through the dark.

cimorene

I'm not a stranger to cramps in the arch of my feet! That's part of the reason that I stopped wearing high heels. I wore some knee-high leather boots that came to just below the knee as a young woman, shortly after the year 2000, usually in the fall and winter (purchased in the US, before moving to Finland was on my radar, so they were kind of for warmth but in a climate that wasn't cold enough to necessitate purchasing actual winter boots). They only had like a 2-3" heel, a chunky one, as was fashionable at the turn of the millennium, so they weren't a challenge to balance or particularly uncomfortable for ordinary walking around. But I soon noticed the pattern of cramps in the arch of my foot after days when I wore them, and that made me want to stop.

But I haven't had much of that problem since then. ( Read more... ) However, just in the last few years I've occasionally noticed a twinge or mini-cramp that goes away after a few seconds specifically in the arch of my left foot. It's never lasted beyond a moment or two until like... last week once when I was walking up the stairs and then yesterday in the grocery store, when it suddenly twinged so hard into a cramp that I spent a minute and a half limping and whispering "Ow, ow, ow!" until it subsided.

It doesn't have to be caused by age, of course, but I don't know what else could have caused it, unless it is protesting the fact that I have not been walking enough in the last year. I used to have a tennis-sized hard rubber ball to roll on the arch of my feet, when I was working on my feet a lot in retail. But I can't remember where I put it.

spikedluv

I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. Supper was leftover strip roast.

I finished the second Jack Reacher book and watched the Bills game. Another close game, but they pulled off the win! Secrets of the Zoo was my evening background tv.

Temps started out at 35.4(F). It went up about a degree, then started going back down. It hovered around the 29 degree mark most of the day. We had a lot of wind (which made it feel more like the temp was in the teens), but not as much snow as they were calling for, thankfully.

Mom Update:

Mom sounded about the same when I called her. ( more back here )

beanside

Yesterday was kind of a chill day. I got up early and wrapped presents, then I went to breakfast with my work friend and her kids. The kids are awesome, but it did remind me of why I never had any. I'm good with short bursts, but if I had to deal with one full time, I'd lose my mind. As it was, when I was done, I was happy to go to IKEA to sit in the parking lot in silence to wait for them to open up.

Once I did that, getting a ton of candy and treats, I came home and relaxed. I put in an order for a tablecloth for Christmas, but they were out, so I guess we're going tablecloth-less. Oh well. I'm not going to get myself in a twist over it. The food will taste the same.

After that, I mostly relaxed the rest of the day. It was a nice Sunday. I ended up ordering Thai food for dinner,because I was just not feeling getting up and cooking. I'll cook tonight. It'll be great.

I slept like a fucking rock which was lovely. I had one sulky moment where I couldn't turn onto my back due to cat, but I fell back asleep before I could worry about it.

While I met with the friend and her kids, her son is very interested in D&D, but not interested in actually learning anything. I was talking about how many games we had going and how you learn a lot of it as you go, and it got me thinking about how much different my DMing style is from when it started.

It shows in some of the games that I'm currently running. Frostmaiden is the first, and it's very much a power fantasy. It started during the pandemic, and it shows. My DMing was probably a little clunky and not very good at redirecting. It's got some role play, but not a ton. Very story driven, with a few exceptions where I pulled in backstory, and got to do some cool shit. Each player has had at least one little character arc. By the time I got to Strahd, I was a little better at leaving space for the role play. More recently, Arvandor is almost 100% character driven, and full of delicious angst and role play. Then again, I crafted the entire plot to tie into characters and left plenty of room for the players to do what they wanted to.

The result has been a delight. The players are role playing a lot, and by pulling all their backstories in, they're engaged and want to see what happens next. It's worked out really well. I'm looking forward to crafting the plots for the next game. I have ideas, and I'll be curious to see how it works out.

Today, it's back to work, for is what should be a relatively quiet week.

And now, I shall go forth and get myself together for the day. Everyone have a wonderful Monday!

kalloway

Back at the beginning of the month, I decided for (Actual-not-Accidental) Advent to read something with 24 volumes... and I came up with Hikaru no Go, which has 23. But then I realized Whistle! has 24 and I can probably read and let go of that... While I started Whistle!... I have instead stuck with HikaGo. (Whoops?) And while my first time through HikaGo to completion was only a couple of years ago, I feel kind of different about it? Certain things really are telegraphed quite well and it's very clear the series ends with vol. 17, which is a little awkward considering it's a 23 volume series. (vol. 18 gets a pass as it's bonus/short stories) I feel like 19-23 is trying to set up something that just isn't strong enough to keep going, and while it should have ended sooner, ending where it did is fine.

I'll keep working my way through Whistle! as well. I know I haven't read it since I moved, and all I really remember is "soccer manga".

I'm also watching Gundam Wing, in earnest, in order to watch Endless Waltz on Xmas. It probably won't come as a surprise if I say the pacing is a bit different than I remember through the first bits. Somewhere between or after Whistle!, I should probably do all the Wing manga but especially Glory.

I need to get to the main library to pick up a 3D print. IDK if I mentioned my last one, but I fully intend to take advantage of this print-on-demand service. (x amount free, very cheap after) Aside from various Gundam add-ons and conversions, there are people just making original model kits and putting them out there for free. Amazing.

(You wouldn't download a Gundam?! Yeah it turns out we all would, I think. Someone made the conversion piece I've always wanted and holy shit, yeah. Yeah.)

rmc28

The hot yoga place has two levels of classes: "hotpod flow" and "nurturing flow". In January I found the nurturing one a bit too relaxing and slow, and I've been doing the free yoga classes through work pretty consistently all year, so I thought sure, I'll be fine in the standard class. I'll have to modify some of the harder positions but I'm used to that.

It was hot in the class. Not sauna hot, but I was definitely finding it harder than I'd expected based on the January classes. I took the teacher at her word about it being fine to take breaks and drink water as needed, but well before the end I just had to stop, sit, and let my heart rate come down. She checked in with me, and I assured her that I know my body and I'm not going to let myself faint, but yes it was harder than I'd expected. I've switched my classes for the next couple of days to the "nurturing flow", so we'll see how that goes.

slightly gross body stuff

My workout clothes were saturated when I finished. I thought I was sweaty after Huskies practice (two hours skating hard, trying to keep up with young men), but this was a new level. Luckily I had a hoodie and skirt to throw over the top for the bike ride home - it's a weirdly mild December week but not so mild I wanted evaporative cooling all the way. Absolutely everything went in the wash when I got home.

I emptied my 950ml water bottle in/just after the practice, and had another couple of litres of water over the course of the evening, this time with my trusty electrolyte tablets, and managed to see off the lurking dehydration headache. I'm going to make sure there's electrolytes in the in-class bottle too from tonight onward.

calimac

I attended a piano recital in San Francisco on Sunday. It just wasn't the piano recital I'd intended to go to.

The one I'd intended would have been Sarah Cahill playing music by Terry Riley in a meeting room of the main SF Public Library at 2 p.m. The occasion was to honor Riley's 90th birthday, which was last June. Riley was one of the founding fathers of the minimalist movement in the early 1960s, though he's reinvented himself several times since then, and Cahill is an indefatigable proponent of new and unusual music; she was, among other things, one of the tag team of pianists who played Philip Glass's complete Etudes some years back.

But when I got to the library I found the building closed due to a power outage. This, I eventually learned, had begun the previous evening, but I hadn't heard about it. This was irksome, especially as I'd checked the website that morning to confirm the concert was still on. The power outage was widespread, but in spots, and this particular spot covered just a few blocks around the library. Not a concert in sight.

But! Earlier, on my way to lunch, which I had at a Chinese place nearby but well outside the outage zone, I'd walked past a pizzeria which had, taped to its front window, a small notification of a concert of Bach on the piano, to be held at a church in the Mission District at 3 p.m. "Too bad Cahill's concert won't be over by then," I thought, but when I found the library closed, I simply changed my plans.

So instead of Riley I heard Bach's seven keyboard toccata suites (BWV 910-916) played on a Baldwin baby grand in a 19th-century Lutheran church across the street from Mission Dolores. The pianist, whose name was Michiko Murata, was really good. Too bad there were only about 20 people there to hear her.

She played crisply and emphatically, with clean separation of parts and with the call-and-response patterns so basic to Bach clearly enunciated. It was 90 minutes of the master of intricate counterpoint showing his chops, and with this clarity of enunciation it was sheer pleasure to hear.

Fortunately there was a brief intermission halfway through, and I returned from the long trudge to the men's room just in time to see Murata in the sanctuary's foyer, about to make her entrance. "You're back," she said to me. "I thought you'd left." This is something you can say when your audience is so small you can count them. "Oh no," I replied, "I've got to hear how this comes out." (With one of Bach's few excursions into the major mode, as it turned out.)

ysabetwordsmith

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Unicorn Door"
Poem: "The Coracle in the Forest"
Poem: "The Unknown Depths of Our Lives"
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Today's Adventures
Poem: "Creativity, Ingenuity, Compassion, and Perseverance"
Space Exploration
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Economy
Poem: "The Community Couch"
Poetry Fishbowl Report for December 2, 2025
Poem: "Mamalokshen"
Unsold Poems for the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl
Crafts
Safety
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 12-19-25: Languages and Linguistics
Dinosaurs
Moment of Silence: Gil Gerard
Birdfeeding
History
Birdfeeding
Today's Adventures
Three for the Memories Coming Back Next Month!
Early Humans
Hard Things

Food has 47 comments. Trauma has 46 comments. Affordable Housing has 78 comments. Robotics has 119 comments.

The 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale has closed, with a massive amount of material to post. It will take me a long time to get it all online, so please keep an eye on the sale page.

Winterfaire 2025 is still open!.List a Booth for anything you sell that would make good holiday gifts, or comment with what you're shopping for to crowdsource ideas. There are links to two similar shopping events online. if you know others, please pass the word.

"An Inkling of Things to Come" belongs to Polychrome: Shiv. It needs $72 to be complete. Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.

The weather has been cold and snowy here. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

Current Mood: busy

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov (background relationship), Jackie Pike, Original Characters, Background & Cameo Characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 2407
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: Ravenestra on AO3
Themes: Hurt/comfort, Canon LGBTQ+ characters, Women being awesome, Female friendship, Unconventional format and style, Humor, Teams

Summary:

Sarah
Does anyone have the number for Shane's girl from Boston? I feel bad that they've been seeing each other for this long and we've never added her here.
Jackie
Oh good point! Let me ask Hayden.
Jackie has added Lily to the conversation
Lily
what
what is this

Or: Ilya Rozanov is, apparently, one of the girls.

Reccer's Notes: This stems from the pseudonyms Ilya and Shane use over the years to text each other (Lily and Jane). The Montreal WAGs (Wives & Girlfriends) grouptext realizes that Shane's "girl", Lily, hasn't been added, partly as Lily is based in Boston not Montreal. So Ilya gets added to the grouptext and (of course) fits right in. The fic's probably more enjoyable and easier to figure out if you know canon, and I also found I picked up more of the humor and details on a second reading. It's an amusing fic, but also about (largely) female support systems, and shows that NHL partners are not unlike military wives. Very well done. (In addition, there's another story WAG Support Network inspired by this one, written in a more usual format, which is also great and adds some extra details.)

Fanwork Links: please leave a message

silveradept

It's December Days time again. This year, I have decided that I'm going to talk about skills and applications thereof, if for no other reason than because I am prone to both the fixed mindset and the downplaying of any skills that I might have obtained as not "real" skills because they do not fit some form of ideal.

( 21: Troll )

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Depeche Mode via Orkestra Obsolete - Blue Monday

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Hayden Pike, Zane Boodram, Evan Dykstra
Rating: Explicit
Length: 26,873
Content Notes: contains depictions of homophobia and slurs, state-sanctioned and from individuals
Creator Links: pucksandpower on AO3
Themes: hurt/comfort, angst (with a happy ending), established relationship, canon LGBTQ+ characters, character development, au: fork in the road

Summary: One security camera. One leaked video. One choice that changes everything.

Ilya Rozanov loses his country, his team, and his shot at Olympic gold in a single night. But he doesn’t lose Shane, and that makes all the difference.

A story about finding home in a person, not a place. About choosing love over legacy. And about winning the medal you never knew you needed, standing next to the one person who matters most.

Reccer's Notes: Time to emerge from my Heated Rivalry obsession, with... Heated Rivalry recs! This goes au after the book (after season 1 of the show), so I guess it's a little spoilery if you haven't read the book or seen season 1. The plot takes a very different turn at the 2018 Korean Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. It's told from Ilya's point of view after what initially seems an utter disaster following which he has to flee the Russian authorities. Although it starts with trauma, most of the story is about how Ilya's life is rebuilt, with Shane being central to that, as are his teammates, and Shane's parents. It's an engaging story with great characterization and fun banter between Ilya and Shane, Ilya often being his usual in-your-face, snarky self. A heartwarming story with plenty of comfort to offset the initial hurt.

Fanwork Links: when the world sees (we run toward each other)

ysabetwordsmith

This poem was written outside the regular prompt calls. It was inspired by the "Twilight" square in my 11-1-25 card for the Fairy Tales and Fantasy Stories Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Coracle Shores and follows "The Coracle in the Forest."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Here are the content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

These are the character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest."

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

Profile

solarbird

I'm on Mastodon!

December 2025

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Page Summary

phys_social_feed - Study shows the 2008 recession caused people to identify with a lower class
phys_social_feed - Report calls on the UK banking industry to consider interventions that 'design out' economic abuse
splash_of_blue in ways_back_room - Monday DE: Dreidels and Dinners and Decorations (oh my!)
michaelgeistsblog_feed - The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 254: Looking Back at the Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy
yhlee - orchestral mockup WIP: "Alto Clef Escapement"
fox - well done, everyone
cimorene - Who knew that aging also produces cramps in the arch of the foot?
andrewducker - Interesting Links for 22-12-2025
spikedluv - The Day in Spikedluv (Sunday, Dec 21)
beanside - And all those things I didn't say, wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight
kalloway - (no subject)
rmc28 - In shock news, hot yoga is hot
calimac - piano recital: a review and an adventure
ysabetwordsmith - Monday Update 12-22-25
mific in fancake - Heated Rivalry: please leave a message by Ravenestra
silveradept - December Days 02025 #21: Troll
mific in fancake - Heated Rivalry: when the world sees (we run toward each other) by pucksandpower
ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "The Unicorn Door"
ysabetwordsmith - Content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"
ysabetwordsmith - Character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"

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

cheers, love - the cavalry's queer!

Network

Study shows the 2008 recession caused people to identify with a lower class

Report calls on the UK banking industry to consider interventions that 'design out' economic abuse

Monday DE: Dreidels and Dinners and Decorations (oh my!)

The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 254: Looking Back at the Year in Canadian Digital Law and Policy

orchestral mockup WIP: "Alto Clef Escapement"

well done, everyone

Who knew that aging also produces cramps in the arch of the foot?

Interesting Links for 22-12-2025

The Day in Spikedluv (Sunday, Dec 21)

And all those things I didn't say, wrecking balls inside my brain, I will scream them loud tonight

(no subject)

In shock news, hot yoga is hot

piano recital: a review and an adventure

Monday Update 12-22-25

Heated Rivalry: please leave a message by Ravenestra

December Days 02025 #21: Troll

Heated Rivalry: when the world sees (we run toward each other) by pucksandpower

Poem: "The Unicorn Door"

Content notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"

Character notes for "The Coracle in the Forest"

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Links

December 2025

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