More news about AI being unreliable
Oct. 28th, 2025 12:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melcharAnd for your latest news about the unreliability of AI = https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/new-ebu-research-ai-assistants-news-content
melchar
New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:46 amysabetwordsmith posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_community_promo![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
goals_on_dw is a community for people who like goals and goal setting. A key focus is New Year's resolutions, that being among the most popular contexts for such activities. Although the most common time is January 1, "new year" can also refer to other calendars or cultures, whatever works for you. Alternatively, just pick a time that works for you and go for it. You can introduce yourself or make new friends here. We talk about different goal systems, pros and cons of resolutions, arts and crafts for tracking goals, human psychology, and more. You can share your resolutions or other goals. There are weekly check-in posts in January, and monthly ones in the rest of the year, for folks to talk about their accomplishments. December-January is the most active period, and it starts ramping up in November as lots of people begin thinking about their goals for the next year.
2025 New Year's Resolutions and Other Goals is the guide post for this years goal-setting activities.
For more details on relevant topics, see "Things You Can Talk About Here."
( Read more... )
Newcomers
Oct. 28th, 2025 01:41 amysabetwordsmith posting in dw_community_promoTrouble is brewing at Bluesky. As a result, there's a wave of new users coming into Dreamwidth. Find your Bluesky friends here.
newcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.
( Read more... )
newcomers is a community for people who are just getting started on Dreamwidth, in the tradition of twitter_refugees and reddit_refugees. This community supports former users of other platforms who are moving to Dreamwidth because their previous platform has become untenable or has closed. As such, it will increase activity with each wave of new users, in hopes of helping them get settled in Dreamwidth so they want to stick around. It also serves previous users returning after a long hiatus, people who want to do more with a Dreamwidth blog that was only intermittent, or anyone else who wants help connecting and figuring out how to use this venue.( Read more... )
UK Boys' Boarding Schools circa 1914
Oct. 27th, 2025 10:39 pmdragonbat2006 posting in little_details I tried Googling and got general info on curriculum, specific schools, and alumnae pages, but not the specific details I'm looking for.
My main character is an upper class 13-year-old boy who, due to long-term illness/frailty was educated by tutors at home, but is now being sent away to school. (Probably England, but since he lives in Yorkshire, I'm not completely opposed to it being Scotland if it turns out that there are significant differences in school experiences between the two countries and Scotland would work better for my character.)
1. Would most pupils begin classes in the fall term as is typical today? As in, would it be realistic for him to begin in September? Or was it more of a rolling admissions thing?
2. How far in advance would his father need to contact the school to enrol/register him? Would there normally be an entrance exam, or would it normally be, 'We accept anyone who can pay the fee, provided there's space'?
3. When it comes to letters to and from home, would there be any reasonable expectation of privacy, or would it be common for staff to read each piece of correspondence? Specifically, the boy has a female cousin of the same age with whom he's quite close. Would he get into any sort of trouble for writing to her or would her letters to him be delivered?
4. If she were in the vicinity of the school, would it be possible for them to meet under the auspices of a chaperone, or would that be totally unheard of?
5. How much would the outbreak of WWI impact him? I would guess that some of the younger teachers would have enlisted over the summer and some of the older boys talking about hoping it won't be over before they get a chance to get in it. Would that mean larger than expected classes?
Thanks so much!
My main character is an upper class 13-year-old boy who, due to long-term illness/frailty was educated by tutors at home, but is now being sent away to school. (Probably England, but since he lives in Yorkshire, I'm not completely opposed to it being Scotland if it turns out that there are significant differences in school experiences between the two countries and Scotland would work better for my character.)
1. Would most pupils begin classes in the fall term as is typical today? As in, would it be realistic for him to begin in September? Or was it more of a rolling admissions thing?
2. How far in advance would his father need to contact the school to enrol/register him? Would there normally be an entrance exam, or would it normally be, 'We accept anyone who can pay the fee, provided there's space'?
3. When it comes to letters to and from home, would there be any reasonable expectation of privacy, or would it be common for staff to read each piece of correspondence? Specifically, the boy has a female cousin of the same age with whom he's quite close. Would he get into any sort of trouble for writing to her or would her letters to him be delivered?
4. If she were in the vicinity of the school, would it be possible for them to meet under the auspices of a chaperone, or would that be totally unheard of?
5. How much would the outbreak of WWI impact him? I would guess that some of the younger teachers would have enlisted over the summer and some of the older boys talking about hoping it won't be over before they get a chance to get in it. Would that mean larger than expected classes?
Thanks so much!
Tags:
Creature feature
Oct. 27th, 2025 11:27 pmcosmolinguistI got to see the Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein tonight, and it was great. Not only did I enjoy it, I was also relieved because I was expecting more body horror and, after his Pinocchio left me emotionally devastated, more of that too. Luckily I found both much more manageable than I had feared! Not to demean it with faint praise, just to note that I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Sadly V wasn't able to come along with us tonight, but I'm already looking forward to the excuse this gives us to watch it on streaming in a couple weeks.
Bundle of Holding: Cthulhu Reborn
Oct. 27th, 2025 03:19 pmjames_davis_nicoll
Nearly two dozen Mythos investigations in many eras from the open-license Cthulhu Eternal tabletop roleplaying game line produced by Cthulhu Reborn.
Compatible with your favorite Lovecraftian percentile-based systems)
Bundle of Holding: Cthulhu Reborn
Somerville Questions
Oct. 27th, 2025 02:20 pml33tminionI usually do something about how I'm thinking about the upcoming election, so here goes.
Mayor - Wilson: Somerville is having a challenger vs. challenger mayoral election this time, and it seems the big difference between the two candidates is on housing: Both in favor, but Jake Wilson supporting a more incremental approach of upzoning areas of the city near transit (note that's most of it), Willie Burnley taking Somerville YIMBY's favored "upzone all of the 'neighborhood residence' zone to 'urban residence'" approach. I think their agendas are similar, but I think Wilson will be more able to get stuff done, and "get rid of 'neighborhood residential'" is a much harder sell despite being very similar in result to more targeted upzoning.
City Councilor At-Large - Istvan, Wheeler, Mbah, Link: This is Somerville YIMBY's slate.
Question 1 (New City Charter Ratification) - Yes: After a long process to update Somerville's charter, the new version seems to be something with broad consensus support: Mayors past, present, and future are in favor, city councilors are in favor, local civic groups are in favor, etc. Seems like a straightforward improvement.
.
Question 2 (Four-Year Mayoral Term Instead of Two) - No: More discussion here. I was leaning "yes" earlier, now I'm leaning "no". A bit uncertain. Best argument for: Longer terms help new mayors recruit better high-level staff. Best argument against: City council is every two years, and the power balance is still stacked against them, even if the new charter passes.
Question 3 (The Palestine One) - No: Well, here I feel even not making a recommendation is likely to get me yelled at. Here's the full wording:
"THIS QUESTION IS NOT BINDING: Shall the Mayor of Somerville and all Somerville elected leaders be instructed to end all current city business and prohibit future city investments and contracts with companies as long as such companies engage in business that sustains Israel's apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine?"
I guess the way I break this down is like so: I think analysis of a ballot measure should be focused on the case where it actually does something. In that condition, I think it's likely to hamper city government here while not doing any good for anyone.
Mayor - Wilson: Somerville is having a challenger vs. challenger mayoral election this time, and it seems the big difference between the two candidates is on housing: Both in favor, but Jake Wilson supporting a more incremental approach of upzoning areas of the city near transit (note that's most of it), Willie Burnley taking Somerville YIMBY's favored "upzone all of the 'neighborhood residence' zone to 'urban residence'" approach. I think their agendas are similar, but I think Wilson will be more able to get stuff done, and "get rid of 'neighborhood residential'" is a much harder sell despite being very similar in result to more targeted upzoning.
City Councilor At-Large - Istvan, Wheeler, Mbah, Link: This is Somerville YIMBY's slate.
Question 1 (New City Charter Ratification) - Yes: After a long process to update Somerville's charter, the new version seems to be something with broad consensus support: Mayors past, present, and future are in favor, city councilors are in favor, local civic groups are in favor, etc. Seems like a straightforward improvement.
.
Question 2 (Four-Year Mayoral Term Instead of Two) - No: More discussion here. I was leaning "yes" earlier, now I'm leaning "no". A bit uncertain. Best argument for: Longer terms help new mayors recruit better high-level staff. Best argument against: City council is every two years, and the power balance is still stacked against them, even if the new charter passes.
Question 3 (The Palestine One) - No: Well, here I feel even not making a recommendation is likely to get me yelled at. Here's the full wording:
"THIS QUESTION IS NOT BINDING: Shall the Mayor of Somerville and all Somerville elected leaders be instructed to end all current city business and prohibit future city investments and contracts with companies as long as such companies engage in business that sustains Israel's apartheid, genocide, and illegal occupation of Palestine?"
I guess the way I break this down is like so: I think analysis of a ballot measure should be focused on the case where it actually does something. In that condition, I think it's likely to hamper city government here while not doing any good for anyone.
Signs of Life This Weekend
Oct. 27th, 2025 09:57 amcanyonwalkerI've been "caving" recently. As in, hiding in my cave. Oh, there are outward signs of life. I show up to work, I'm cheery at work, I've gone out for lunch most days this past week. But inside I've felt dead. I haven't wanted to do anything. For example, I haven't even been able to get myself out to the hot tub to enjoy a soak. Oh, I still still make forward plans for it. "I'd like to use the hot tub after dinner tonight," I tell myself. Then when 8pm or 9pm comes around I decide I'm just as relaxed lying on the floor in the house and would rather not change into swim trunks and go outside.
Things have looked up a bit this past week. I got back on the cadence of blogging. I had 7 "skip days" earlier this month, days when I didn't write to my journal. I think the last time I had that many skip days in a month was 10 years ago. But now I've been writing daily for a week-plus, including some days where I've posted twice. Small steps forward.
And this weekend I finally mustered the will to go out to the hot tub! I was going to do it Saturday morning but then the I-don't-wannas hit... but then I did it Sunday morning.
And Sunday afternoon I did a legit, major chore by dealing with the clothes washer. And good news after my check-it-out and clean-it-up efforts: it's not broken!
Things have looked up a bit this past week. I got back on the cadence of blogging. I had 7 "skip days" earlier this month, days when I didn't write to my journal. I think the last time I had that many skip days in a month was 10 years ago. But now I've been writing daily for a week-plus, including some days where I've posted twice. Small steps forward.
And this weekend I finally mustered the will to go out to the hot tub! I was going to do it Saturday morning but then the I-don't-wannas hit... but then I did it Sunday morning.
And Sunday afternoon I did a legit, major chore by dealing with the clothes washer. And good news after my check-it-out and clean-it-up efforts: it's not broken!
Feathering the Nest (October 2025)
Oct. 27th, 2025 12:00 pmdialecticdreamerWelcome to the fluff and comfort fic festival for this month!
For readers familiar with the event, the theme, in general, is “comfort, fluff, and slice of life.” If you can make a case for the prompt, I’ll write it. “Frank needs a coffee break!” is a sufficient, succinct prompt. “Aidan falling in ace-love with the gas stove” is another.
( Read more... )
For readers familiar with the event, the theme, in general, is “comfort, fluff, and slice of life.” If you can make a case for the prompt, I’ll write it. “Frank needs a coffee break!” is a sufficient, succinct prompt. “Aidan falling in ace-love with the gas stove” is another.
( Read more... )
Screencap for today's post
Oct. 27th, 2025 11:51 amneonvincentI captured this image to illustrate CNBC and Company Man examine Spirit Halloween, spooky tales of the Retail Apocalypse for Black Cat Day.
[livre] Il pleut des poèmes
Oct. 27th, 2025 02:30 pmmaluretteTitre : Il pleut des poèmes - anthologie de poèmes minuscules
Auteures : varié, présenté par Jen-Marie Henry et Zaü
Langue : français
Type : poésie
Genre : contemplatif ?
1ère parution : compilé en 2003
Édition : Rue du monde
Format : album à l'italienne, 50 pages
(prêté parflo_nelja qui l'a trouvé à la Braderie cette année)
Exactement ce que ça dit : de très courts poèmes, auto-contenus, une phrase ou deux ou trois, style haïku ou aphorisme ; quelques proverbes chinois aussi.
Arrangés par thématiques ; météo, paysage, saison, animaux...
et avec de jolis illustrations peintes.
La plupart sont effectivement jolis, certains surtout vers la fin me parlent un peu moins, mais c'est toujours intéressant à lire.
Auteures : varié, présenté par Jen-Marie Henry et Zaü
Langue : français
Type : poésie
Genre : contemplatif ?
1ère parution : compilé en 2003
Édition : Rue du monde
Format : album à l'italienne, 50 pages
(prêté par
flo_nelja qui l'a trouvé à la Braderie cette année)Exactement ce que ça dit : de très courts poèmes, auto-contenus, une phrase ou deux ou trois, style haïku ou aphorisme ; quelques proverbes chinois aussi.
Arrangés par thématiques ; météo, paysage, saison, animaux...
et avec de jolis illustrations peintes.
La plupart sont effectivement jolis, certains surtout vers la fin me parlent un peu moins, mais c'est toujours intéressant à lire.
Clarke Award Finalists 2020
Oct. 27th, 2025 09:09 amjames_davis_nicoll2020: Boris Johnson proposes an unbuildable bridge between Scotland and Ireland, Universal Credit successfully sends stress levels soaring, and the Tories handle Covid as skilfully as they did Brexit.
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Poll #33767 Clarke Award Finalists 2020
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 39
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
View Answers
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
1 (2.6%)
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
33 (84.6%)
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 (10.3%)
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
12 (30.8%)
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
1 (2.6%)
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
18 (46.2%)
Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.
Which 2020 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders
The Last Astronaut by David Wellington
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Writing Questions, Uncomfortable Self-Reflection Edition.
Oct. 27th, 2025 11:36 amrionaleonhartSome more writing questions from Tumblr!
What word(s) do you find yourself using a lot?
I'm not sure if there are individual words I have a weakness for, but I definitely feel there are a lot of phrases and descriptions I reuse endlessly. Unfortunately, I have zero ability to retain the knowledge of what those phrases are. If I reuse a phrase while writing, I have no awareness that I've used it before! And then I’ll reread the fic a few days after posting and go 'oh, goddammit, I’ve used that phrase in a million fics, haven’t I?' (If anyone else has noticed specific recurring phrases in my writing, I would be interested and/or mortified to know.)
One phrase I have developed conscious awareness of: I have used the phrase 'There is a pause' 76 times across my fics. At some point I became aware that I used this phrase too much, so I went for 'There's a pause’ instead. I have now used 'There's a pause' 96 times.
I suppose 'said' (or rather 'says', as I usually write in present tense) might count as a word I use a lot? I originally dismissed it as an answer to the question because I consider it a near-invisible word - it’d be like saying I use 'the' a lot - but different writers have very different attitudes to 'said', so the fact that I use it relentlessly is still a marker of my style. You can’t avoid 'the'; you can theoretically avoid 'said’, but I very much don’t. It’s so useful and unobtrusive! (Or at least it’s unobtrusive to me.) I’d say I average one 'says' every hundred words.
I... also average one 'blood', 'pain' or 'scream' every thousand words across all of my fics, now that I check. Whoops. (That's including words containing those letter sequences, like 'bloodied' or 'painful' or 'screaming'. Or... or 'Spain', I suppose, although I don't write a lot about Spain.)
What do you feel sets your writing apart from that of others?
Oh, this is a tricky question! I'd probably say it's the subject matter?
I don't think there's anything stylistically unique about my writing; I do have a particular style, but it's not necessarily something you could pick out of a lineup of similar writers. But the concepts that interest me can be pretty specific and niche, and I often find myself writing for rare pairings and small fandoms. I'll also write for more popular things, but I'm more motivated to write a fic if I don't think the concept has been written already.
In other words, you can find my style anywhere, but there are ships and concepts and fandoms where, if you want to read fanfiction for them, I'm more or less the only option (condolences). Of course, there are a lot of other writers out there who are also pursuing their own niche ideas - that's not unique in itself - but each of us is bringing something unique to the table.
What do you feel is your writing’s biggest flaw?
Impatience, probably! I really enjoy the act of writing, but I also spend the entire process itching to get the story finished so I can share it with the world. This can lead me to go 'great, it's finished, time to post!' as soon as a fic is in a theoretically finished state. Often, though, the fic would benefit from a little more time and thought, from adding a few more scenes, from fleshing out developments a little more. It's too late; I've already posted, and now it'll always gnaw at me that this fic will never be quite as good as it could have been.
What word(s) do you find yourself using a lot?
I'm not sure if there are individual words I have a weakness for, but I definitely feel there are a lot of phrases and descriptions I reuse endlessly. Unfortunately, I have zero ability to retain the knowledge of what those phrases are. If I reuse a phrase while writing, I have no awareness that I've used it before! And then I’ll reread the fic a few days after posting and go 'oh, goddammit, I’ve used that phrase in a million fics, haven’t I?' (If anyone else has noticed specific recurring phrases in my writing, I would be interested and/or mortified to know.)
One phrase I have developed conscious awareness of: I have used the phrase 'There is a pause' 76 times across my fics. At some point I became aware that I used this phrase too much, so I went for 'There's a pause’ instead. I have now used 'There's a pause' 96 times.
I suppose 'said' (or rather 'says', as I usually write in present tense) might count as a word I use a lot? I originally dismissed it as an answer to the question because I consider it a near-invisible word - it’d be like saying I use 'the' a lot - but different writers have very different attitudes to 'said', so the fact that I use it relentlessly is still a marker of my style. You can’t avoid 'the'; you can theoretically avoid 'said’, but I very much don’t. It’s so useful and unobtrusive! (Or at least it’s unobtrusive to me.) I’d say I average one 'says' every hundred words.
I... also average one 'blood', 'pain' or 'scream' every thousand words across all of my fics, now that I check. Whoops. (That's including words containing those letter sequences, like 'bloodied' or 'painful' or 'screaming'. Or... or 'Spain', I suppose, although I don't write a lot about Spain.)
What do you feel sets your writing apart from that of others?
Oh, this is a tricky question! I'd probably say it's the subject matter?
I don't think there's anything stylistically unique about my writing; I do have a particular style, but it's not necessarily something you could pick out of a lineup of similar writers. But the concepts that interest me can be pretty specific and niche, and I often find myself writing for rare pairings and small fandoms. I'll also write for more popular things, but I'm more motivated to write a fic if I don't think the concept has been written already.
In other words, you can find my style anywhere, but there are ships and concepts and fandoms where, if you want to read fanfiction for them, I'm more or less the only option (condolences). Of course, there are a lot of other writers out there who are also pursuing their own niche ideas - that's not unique in itself - but each of us is bringing something unique to the table.
What do you feel is your writing’s biggest flaw?
Impatience, probably! I really enjoy the act of writing, but I also spend the entire process itching to get the story finished so I can share it with the world. This can lead me to go 'great, it's finished, time to post!' as soon as a fic is in a theoretically finished state. Often, though, the fic would benefit from a little more time and thought, from adding a few more scenes, from fleshing out developments a little more. It's too late; I've already posted, and now it'll always gnaw at me that this fic will never be quite as good as it could have been.
My body clock is never on time
Oct. 26th, 2025 09:11 pmcosmolinguistI woke up and looked at my alarm clock: 8.30. That's early!
Then I looked at my phone which said 7.30 - that's REALLY early!
"Gained an hour," but on the one Sunday in months when I have no plans at all so it doesn't do me any good.
I'm not normally bothered by the clocks changing -- I'm not normally bothered by eight-hour timezone changed -- but today once I got out of an excruciating conversation with my parents (they have their first laptop and they don't know what "browser" means and "the printer is in a file and I can't get it to come out!") all I could think was ah thank god it's bedtime and it was seven forty two pm.
8:42 I could accept as a typical time for me to go upstairs and get ready for bed. But this is silly.
And I was also very hungry and very overwhelmed by the time I ate dinner, because "the same time as usual" was in fact an hour late.
Wow! That's a lot of words!
Oct. 26th, 2025 10:04 pmbrithistorianI stumbled on a list of word counts of famous novels and discovered that my longest piece of fanfic is approximately 16,000 words longer than Moby Dick!
Dances With Washing Machines
Oct. 26th, 2025 06:34 pmcanyonwalkerOur clothes washing machine has been on time-out since Wednesday evening when it leaked. Since then Hawk has been shopping around online figuring out what washer we'd it with. We were deliberative about buying this one 10+ years ago; we'll be deliberative about the one that replaces it. Meaning, we've bought a short subscription to Consumer Reports (again) and we're checking reviews to select models that have above-average ratings for cleaning effectiveness, water and power efficiency, and low noise, at modest cost.
But before we click "Buy Now" we figured we'd give our current washer another chance. It seemed just barely possible, and an experience plumber who helped us look at it agreed, that water pressure spikes from water main work in the neighborhood that day could've made the leak a fluke. Today I finally had the energy to pull out the washer and take a look at it.
I unplugged the washer, disconnected the drain and supply lines, and taped all the cables and pipes out of the way. Then I trundled the washer out of the laundry closet. I had to unhook a fan-fold door to help get it out. (Little problem there. I've adjusted, removed and installed fan-fold doors in our house before.)
The floor beneath the washer is pretty messy. You can see that in the photo above. The mess there is years of dust bunnies, presumably from the dryer, mixed with water from the washer's leak a few days ago. Once I had the washer out of the way it wasn't too hard to clean it up with a water spritzer and a roll of paper towels.
I took the opportunity while the washer was moved out of the closet to do some additional cleaning. I pulled out the soap tray and gave it a thorough cleaning in the sink, with soap and hot water. We've never done a full cleaning on it, and was moldy. I also cleaned the rubber grommet and around the glass window of the door where it makes a seal, in case dirt or grime there was the source of the leak.
Speaking of finding the source of the leak, I tipped the washer onto its face to see if I could find a leak leak on the underside. No dice; the underside has a metal cover bolted in place with several bolts. I decided to skip it.
Again, our thinking here with cleaning up the washer was not just to clean up the space for a replacement but to give the old washer one more try. Just in case the leak was not a fluke, though— and I've got to admit, the chances it was just a fluke are, like, 1 in 10— I went out and bought a spill pan for the washer. It was $31 plus tax at Home Depot for one that's cheap plastic but fits nicely.
Here you can see the washer moved back into place, sitting atop its new spill catcher. I've got a (light) load of laundry in there. I'll know in about 90 minutes how much of a fluke Wednesday's leak was.
Update: The load of wash completed with no leaks.
But before we click "Buy Now" we figured we'd give our current washer another chance. It seemed just barely possible, and an experience plumber who helped us look at it agreed, that water pressure spikes from water main work in the neighborhood that day could've made the leak a fluke. Today I finally had the energy to pull out the washer and take a look at it.
I unplugged the washer, disconnected the drain and supply lines, and taped all the cables and pipes out of the way. Then I trundled the washer out of the laundry closet. I had to unhook a fan-fold door to help get it out. (Little problem there. I've adjusted, removed and installed fan-fold doors in our house before.)The floor beneath the washer is pretty messy. You can see that in the photo above. The mess there is years of dust bunnies, presumably from the dryer, mixed with water from the washer's leak a few days ago. Once I had the washer out of the way it wasn't too hard to clean it up with a water spritzer and a roll of paper towels.
I took the opportunity while the washer was moved out of the closet to do some additional cleaning. I pulled out the soap tray and gave it a thorough cleaning in the sink, with soap and hot water. We've never done a full cleaning on it, and was moldy. I also cleaned the rubber grommet and around the glass window of the door where it makes a seal, in case dirt or grime there was the source of the leak.
Speaking of finding the source of the leak, I tipped the washer onto its face to see if I could find a leak leak on the underside. No dice; the underside has a metal cover bolted in place with several bolts. I decided to skip it.
Again, our thinking here with cleaning up the washer was not just to clean up the space for a replacement but to give the old washer one more try. Just in case the leak was not a fluke, though— and I've got to admit, the chances it was just a fluke are, like, 1 in 10— I went out and bought a spill pan for the washer. It was $31 plus tax at Home Depot for one that's cheap plastic but fits nicely.
Here you can see the washer moved back into place, sitting atop its new spill catcher. I've got a (light) load of laundry in there. I'll know in about 90 minutes how much of a fluke Wednesday's leak was.
Update: The load of wash completed with no leaks.
#35 Dropping In (part 1 of 1, complete)
Oct. 26th, 2025 09:33 pmdialecticdreamerDropping In
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1292
[Sunday, May 10, 2020, midmorning]
:: The next day, Liana comes by, and a new connection is made in the area. Part of the Edison’s Mirror arc. ::
Back to False Alarm
To the Edison's Mirror Index
On to
“I can’t believe how close I am to really --” Nik trailed off, shaking his head. He continued softly, “It’s hard to explain, because I feel completely normal, until something unexpected slams a door in my face that I didn’t even realize was there. I didn’t realize that I was missing out until Shandiin tried to share her favorite hobby with me. The roundabout is some help, but… This will be safe to use for cooking, and I can tend it myself, instead of relying on Shandiin.”
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1292
[Sunday, May 10, 2020, midmorning]
:: The next day, Liana comes by, and a new connection is made in the area. Part of the Edison’s Mirror arc. ::
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“I can’t believe how close I am to really --” Nik trailed off, shaking his head. He continued softly, “It’s hard to explain, because I feel completely normal, until something unexpected slams a door in my face that I didn’t even realize was there. I didn’t realize that I was missing out until Shandiin tried to share her favorite hobby with me. The roundabout is some help, but… This will be safe to use for cooking, and I can tend it myself, instead of relying on Shandiin.”
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