TLtT

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Comic Beads bookmark

I made some paper beads from a cereal-box Batman comic. The beads didn't sell, so I decided to make them into a bookmark. Text and/or faces are visible on all the beads; some are self-contained and others combine with neighboring beads to be read. Glass beads between the paper ones allow for movement, and the shorter bead strand is finished with a black-and-white swirled shell disc. Buy it here.

[hrtsmom]

A Summoned Spark - chapter eleven

Trina Talma published a supporter-only post on Ko-fi!

Chapter 11 of my YA/dystopian novel, A Summoned Spark, is now available on my Ko-fi page. Treachery! Twists! Cold weather! Eek! (Sneak peek below.)

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[hrtsmom]

A copy of the universe is not what is required of art; one of the damned things is ample. – Rebecca West

[wilwheaton]

“I’ve certainly stopped by the Reflecting Pool from time to time. I even lived in the nation’s capital for five years. It always seemed more or less fine: water, reflecting, no evident swampiness. I started googling at first and Google AI told me how this has really been a big deal for ages and no one had been able to fix the problems. But when I looked at the articles they were getting this from it was all stuff from the last month, with sections that were longer versions of the snippet I just showed you.”

—

Trump’s New Leak in the Back Reflecting Pool Legend 

This is one of the truly insidious, deadly, and dangerous aspects of AI use in search results, and it’s entirely by design.

The oligarchs and tech fascists want to manipulate reality (or at least the public perception of reality) by substituting their ideological lies and false bullshit for actual facts. They tell the AI to ignore sources they don’t like, and to privilege those that they do, and this is what we get.

It’s *vital* that we teach kids (and reeducate adults, if necessary) to never use AI for this sort of information gathering. It’s so dangerous to let this happen without any pushback. 

Fuck AI. Fuck technofascists. 

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Swirls & Stripes bookmark

3.25" silver-tone hook bookmark holds a strand of black-and-white and purple beads, accented with silver-tone jingle bells. The black-and-white beads are dyed bone; the purple are sugilite. Buy it here.

[hrtsmom]

Amethyst & Leopardskin Jasper bracelet

Oblong beads of light-brown leopardskin jasper and pale purple amethyst are accented with tiny gold-tone metal rounds. A great color combination for summer or fall. Buy it here.

[hrtsmom]

Follow Your Heart charm

Silver-tone oval tray pendant features an image with the words "Follow your heart" on a vintage map background, under glass. The pendant measures approximately 1" long and .75" wide. Buy it here.

[hrtsmom]

Somebody once said that a dog looked up to a man as its superior, that a horse regarded a man as its equal, and that a cat looked down on him as its inferior. – Compton Mackenzie

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6/18 Thursday

Just realized I forgot to switch over to June in my library log. Didn’t even stop to wonder how I’d added 184 books to the library in a little over two weeks. Maybe I should just keep the count going for the rest of the season? It’s too late to fix it for this month, anyway.

I picked the first strawberries of the season this morning – four of them. Teeny little things, but fully ripe. I thought I should get them before a critter does.

[hrtsmom]

6/15 Monday

Finished: A Single Captive Spark by Emberly Ash (really? Is that your real name? A bit on the nose for this title). 3 stars; book #37 for the year. Interesting premise, if not entirely original. (I mean, I’ve written it myself.) Not the best execution. Much too talky for a story about revolution. And by “talky” I mean interminable interior monologues. No matter which of the two pov characters was telling the story, it seemed like for every line of actual dialogue there were paragraphs of introspection – often in the middle of conversations. At least half of that was about “I so want to have sex with him/her, but I shouldn’t because he/she is my enemy!” And this from almost the minute they met, based almost entirely on physical attraction. “I want to bang you even though I hate you” isn’t really a great way to start a relationship, no matter what the books say. Still, it was the characters more than the story that kept me reading. Nothing much really happened until the last few chapters, and by then it was too late to get me interested in buying the next book in the series (I got this one free). Too bad.

Listening to: “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” by Simon & Garfunkel, Ear Biscuits, “Hurricane, Floods & Fire” by Here Come the Mummies

Watched: Quantum Leap, The Red Green Show, The Rookie

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6/13 Saturday

Whoop whoop! TDR: Freed has passed 20K words! But as I added some on Wednesday, I’m skipping it today. I’ve been trying to get a writing day going since then. Or should I say, trying to finish one. Most of Wednesday was actually spent sorting beads again. Thursday was too busy with Thursday things, and yesterday was Alyssa Day.

I even got an extra workout in yesterday. Heather, Alyssa and I walked over to the Loaf & Jug for ice cream bars, then spent some time at the park, then went to a rummage sale. Heather bought a few things for Alyssa. I found some stickers for my junk journal and a new Boyd’s bear for my collection (I have four now, so it’s definitely a collection). This bear doesn’t have a name on his tag, or that tag is missing, so I’ll have to give him one.

NE Way . . . Oh, Heather and I went to anouther garage sale this morning, but didn’t find anything we wanted. Such is.

The weather’s been chilly the past couple of days. Typical mid-June, really. We’ve had some rain too. Wednesday night (I think?) there was a major storm watch: hail, heavy winds, possible tornado, etc. We had a bit of rain and some wind, but that was it. Sometimes it’s nice when the forecast is wrong.

My tomato plants are doing splendidly. They’re already both at least twic as big as when I got them. And there are some flowers. The strawberry plants have some green berries, but WSS on those. Last year the rabbits or squirrels got most of the actual berries. I wonder if we could put a finer-mesh fence around the patch. Maybe with some of the leftover mosquito netting from the catio, if there is any left over.

Gawd I wish the thoughts would come this fast when I’m working on the books.

Also I think Calli and Jake may be about to do the deed. The stereotype of The Hero About to Leave on His Quest bit. But unlike some of the books I’ve been reading lately, there will be no details of pulsing thighs or pebble-like nipples. (Seriously: the female protagonist of the Kindle book I’m reading has used that exact analogy at least three times so far.) I’m going to leave them to just go to her room (or maybe his) and close the door. I’m just so bored with reading explicit sex scenes that I feel no need to write one.

I still don’t know if Sharrec and Arathel will get one at all. If it seems right, I suppose. So far they haven’t had either the time or the privacy. And Thel may even be asexual. I’m just not sure about that aspect of her yet. But again, I haven’t really needed to worry about it so far.

Anyway, now that it’s summer vacation, Alyssa will be here at least every Friday. So I’ve made some changes to my work schedule. If it works well, I’ll keep it. This week she was actually here two days – Tuesday and yesterday. On Tuesday she drew a bunch of hearts on the back of a memo pad and wrote “I [heart] U” on it too. I said, “Wow, that’s a lot of hearts!”

“Well that’s because I love you so much.”

“Aww, that’s nice. I love you too. You’re my favorite grandchild.”

“Thanks!” She didn’t get the irony, and I didn’t enlighten her.

I’m going to start stocking some books for a potential signing . . . somewhere. Heather and I wanted to do our first one at Words to Live By, but Jill says the construction work on Center Avenue is bollocking up the traffic so much that she doesn’t think we’d get much of an audience. However, Heather’s been in touch with a couple of other newish stores downtown, and there’s potential interest. WSS.

Cheryl’s supposed to be coming for the Scandinavian Festival next weekend. Should be fun if she actually makes it. Fingers crossed etc. Otherwise I’m saving my Con money for the Blueberry Festival in Ely next month!

Watched: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zootopia 2, Leverage: Redemption (hooray for the colon shows!)

Listening to: “Appalachian Spring” by Aaron Copland (quite pretty even if parts of it do sound like the soundtrack to a 60s Western)

Ye gods I have stepped in cat poo twice today. This morning with shoes on, so I tracked it around the den a bit before discovering where the stink was coming from. And this evening, barefoot. hooray.

[hrtsmom]

"Afterword" to the Morstan/Karbegla series

Trina Talma published a supporter-only post on Ko-fi!

I wrote this as a potential afterword to the Morstan/Karbegla series, even though (obviously) I haven't finished that series yet. It just needed to be written down. I may yet use it. It also (spoiler!) serves as a link between that series and the Zania series.

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Have you fifty friends? – it is not enough. Have you one enemy? – it is too much. – Italian proverb

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[plumslices]

I am not in the headspace to see rich people be happy