MsBarrows' Maunderings

Head Stuffed Full of Useless Knowledge I'm a bibliophile, reading mainly science fiction and fantasy, with a past addiction to manga. These days I'm more likely to have my nose in a fanfiction piece than published fiction. I started out here in the Dragon Age fandom, then expanded into the MCU, though the list of fandoms I read in is rather more extensive than that. Partly because crossovers made me do it, and also because if I like an author's work well enough I'll happily read the stuff they've done for other fandoms. I've been mostly on a writing hiatus for the last few years, but am trying to get back to regular writing. 🇨🇦

[frankenmouse]

It is so ridiculously easy to gain a reputation for being competent by just reading signs.

This is not metaphorical. I mean actual, literal pieces of paper/plastic/metal/whatever explicitly erected to inform the public.

“How did you know this was the right trail?” I read the sign.

“Wow, how did you know what that flower is?” There’s a SIGN.

“How did you know we needed to use the side door?” THERE IS A SIGN POSTED ON THE FRONT DOOR.

Just…why are we having such different experiences of the world? People can read. I KNOW they can read. There’s nothing wrong with their vision.

Just. READ. THE. GOD. DAMN. SIGN.

This also applies to:

Syllabi

Instructions

[kgdragoon]

This is super embarrassing, but this did happen to me yesterday. I tried to walk in a door with a sign that said "Use other door ->" (and which was locked) before I saw the sign. I am currently still dying of mortification.

[frankenmouse]

But you then read the sign and figured it out! Instead of assuming you were locked in/out and bothering someone about it.

I’m putting one star on your “Sign reading” chart!

⭐️

[memeuplift]

[athelind]

It's a d

it's a dus

It's a dust bu

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

so strange when people assume 'waking up early' means increased productivity bc no??? im awake so i can read fanfic in bed before breakdown

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

BREAKFAST

[transformativeworks]

[msbarrows]

July 18 - divided up for freezing some bulk packs of meat my brother purchased. We had a nice rainy day here, including a brief thunderstorm, so the skies here have been pretty clear of smoke. It's supposed to return tomorrow though. Blargh.

Opened and tried the refrigerator pickles I made the other day. Taste is good.

Still on an All Will Fall bender, I'm getting closer to getting the hang of the game. Had things going very swimmingly until I had a long period without rain, my water reserves ran dry, and half my population died of thirst before I managed to turn things around. Still repopulating my little floating city after that catastrophe, which is still better than my previous stab at things (where I ended up restarting for the fifth time after a similar population crash). I'm finding one problem with the game is finding ways to increase your population that don't overpopulate you and unbalance everything. One of the more frequently available sources of new people is 'outsiders' coming along - they don't contribute work to the city unless they join as citizens, but they do use up food and water, need housing, and steal stuff. The bigger your city the more of them will come along at a time. Suddenly adding 30 (or more) people to the city can easily crash your resources before enough of them join professions that you have warm bodies to work in additional greenhouses, fishing boats, water purifying facilities, gathering facilities, etc.

Made beef & macaroni stew for supper.

[stillnotmollified]

some of you weren’t around for the fan fiction dot net purge of 2002 (when they banned explicit content and mass-deleted thousands of fics) and the livejournal purge of 2007 (when they deleted hundreds of blogs, disproportionately targeting queer & kink content) and it shows

this kind of policing is why ao3 was created

remember, kids, the three laws of fandom are:

- don’t like; don’t read

- your kink is not my kink

- ship and let ship

[rembrandtswife]

your kink is not my kink *but your kink is okay* don't forget that part

[the-haiku-bot]

your kink is not my

kink *but your kink is okay*

don’t forget that part

Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.

[renewedmotionforjudgment]

Pursuit of Chade/Chasing Jade (2026) (dr. Zeng Qingjie)

[msbarrows]

I hear thunder rolling in.

*And the crowd goes wild*

[msbarrows]

Republicans threaten Canada with sanctions over drifting wildfire smoke

Fires are also blazing across the US and the Trump administration has repealed several climate protections

[bewbin]

LETS BRING BACK 1337 SPEAK 

[bewbin]

why do i even try 

[bunney]

I THoUGHT YOU MEANT THE YEAR

[esoanem]

my l0rd, t3h p34s4nt5 4r3 r3v01t1ng! W3 mu5t s411y f0rth 4g41n5t th3m 4thw1th!

[addamatic]

Happy ten years of being so old no one knows what 1337 is

[msbarrows]

July 17 - took another pass through my wardrobe and decided to donate a bunch more clothing. Also a lot of shoes; with the changes to my foot size and width over the last few years, I had a number of winter boots, dress shoes, sneakers, and the like that I'd never be able to wear comfortably again, if I could even get them on at all. I've gone from an 11 women's/9 men's to a 10 wide men's shoe size.

Still playing a lot of All Will Fall, still fiddling around on the starter map.

Made dilly beef with egg noodles and mixed veggies for supper.

[copperbadge]

I know myself well enough to know I would not be very good at fanbiding and that would mainly frustrate me, so while I love fan binding and admire those who do it, I've never dabbled.

I have never regretted that decision more than I did waking up from the dream I recently had, where I excitedly bought a rare copy of the novel that Goncharov (1973) was based on, opened it up, and found that it was a hollowed out "book safe" for keeping valuables in.

[greaseonmymouth]

@copperbadge were you looking for the Goncharov novel ?

I tracked down a copy of this invaluable classic and somehow got my hands on a near pristine copy secondhand from the 4th printing. It’s lost the dustjacket, alas, but that means I got it for like £5 and not the £4200 a first edition printing in fine condition goes for.

(Who’s the author? *looks at smudge on spine* uhhhh Mkkhill Montanann)

It looks right at home in my bookcase 🥰

Under the cut: a look inside at what the book holds:

Just kidding.

It holds only the air of regret and disappointment.

[therukurals]

Northwest Pig Butcher Ragebait Squad

[nice-worm-deactivated20200906]

reblog the money pigeon for a financially stable future

[secondlina]

I reblog  the money pigeon because I love him.

[ip2lb]

x

[thehappysnail-deactivated202210]

Holy fuck

[musingsofaraven]

This works best if you keep windows closed.

Another design is using 2 20x25x1 filters, taping them to the sides of the box fan and then to each other so they sort of make a triangle, then cutting cardboard to make a top and bottom to the triangle.

This was discovered as a more effective design during the 2020 US west coast fires.

https://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2013/06/better-box-fan-air-purifier.html

Better Box Fan Air Purifier

A better more efficient and odor eliminating homemade air purifier than just taping a 20x20x1 filter to a box fan. Sometimes you need to

[runcibility]

If you live on the west coast of the United States, fire season is coming and this is vital.

[turtlesandfrogs]

We’ve been using one, and they’re great. Might try to make the double filter version this year.

[objectconstancy]

theyve been doing a bunch of studies on this during the pandemic and this design is best! 4 filters and a shroud to optimize flow rate.

Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

Corsi-Rosenthal Cube

https://encycla.com/Corsi-Rosenthal_Cube

[rezkid]

From Anishinabek Nation:

The Anishinabek Nation stands in solidarity with Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, which has experienced devastation from the recent wildfires, displacing all citizens from their homes and community.

In the spirit of Ngo Dwe Waangazid Anishinaabe (One Anishinaabe Family), the Anishinabek Nation is accepting donations on behalf of Namaygoosisagagun First Nation to help the community navigate through this crisis. If you are able to, please donate via e-transfer to: [email protected]

Donations can also be made by credit card through PayPal or Canada Helps with further information at https://an7gc.ca/donate/

100% of donations are dedicated to supporting Namaygoosisagagun emergency response and community recovery efforts.

Other ways to help:

Share this post to spread this message

Offer thoughts and prayers of healing for those affected by the wildfires

Reach out to surrounding food banks and inquire what support they require (i.e., food, feminine products, essential supplies, clothing, shelter, etc.)

[msbarrows]

Sky is still pretty clear so far today and it's actually on the cool side outside, so I've turned off the air filters and have the upstairs windows open to catch some nice cool breeze (sorry I can't stuff it through the internet to those of you who are still sweltering).

Supposed to start raining later today, and continue on through tomorrow, which hopefully will settle the worst of the smoke (at least for now) and lessen the chance of additional fires anywhere it falls (I'm in one of the areas that's still rated as an extreme fire risk). Thankfully NW Ontario is already getting rained on, which will help prevent additional fires up thataway (assuming there aren't any started by lightning strikes). I bet it's a huge relief to everyone up there either fighting or in the vicinity of the existing dozens of fires.

[digitaldiscipline]

This is the 85 year old creator of Roger Rabbit: