forkedtongues | Member Posts

This video beautifully demonstrates the use of art in education, showing how trees catch and release water to help drive the hydrologic cycle. Without forests, you get a drought-flood situation instead. :/

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to Middlefork at the Mall in Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana. This is a big flea market, although not quite as big as the last one we caught. We both found some great stuff.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Yesterday I discovered the Seed Library Network. I was delighted to find one near me. (See Today's Adventures for our other activities.)

Today we visited the Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange. It's on the second floor. We rode the elevator up, and the display was big enough to be seen from where the elevator lets out. Seeds are stored in drawers, sorted by type. There are sections for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Some of the really popular ones have their own drawer; others are grouped together. Unopened packets of commercial seed are filed as they are, for folks who want to know exactly what they're getting. Opened packets or homegrown seeds are put in envelopes by library staff. With wildflower and landrace seeds, especially mixes, you may get more surprises.

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Current Mood: excited

ysabetwordsmith

Scared of spiders? Scientists say the real nightmare is losing them

Scientists discovered that nearly 90% of North America’s insects and arachnids have no conservation status—revealing a huge blind spot in protecting the tiny creatures that keep ecosystems running.

Spiders and insects may not be fan favorites, but they are vital to the health of ecosystems—and scientists barely know how they’re doing. Researchers found that nearly 90% of North America’s insect and arachnid species have no conservation status, leaving their fate largely unknown. Even more striking, most states don’t protect a single arachnid species. The study warns that these overlooked creatures are essential to planetary health and urgently need better monitoring and protection.

Let me be blunt here: the insect (arthropod) apocalypse is going to pull the rug out from under the biosphere. Plants are the producers for most of the ecosystem; many essential plants rely on insects for pollination or other services. And the next layer is invertebrates, mostly arthropods -- they break down dead material to a size that fungi can deal with, they pollinate, they move seeds, they feed most of the next level up such as birds, amphibians, etc. Spiders in particular keep the rest of that arthropod mess in check so we're not buried alive in flies, mosquitoes, and so on. They're some of the tiniest predators and they're absolutely vital.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

The March

crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Opportunity."

What I Have Written

From My Prompts

gs_silva took my prompt "Opportunity is using someone else's waste product as your raw material" as inspiration for an adorable picture and description from Alien Romance. :D

Current Mood: busy

kaberett

highlights included:

the lion ROARING
glasswing (Greta oto) pupae: tiny, bright leaf green, with sparkly metallic bits (gold and silver)
the rhinoceros ratsnake (Gonyosoma boulengeri): has a NOSE. why is its NOSE pointy? no(se) idea!
turquoise gecko (Lygodactylus williamsi)

otherwise everything is still Migraine World Summit (though I have once again learned a useful thing today! neck pain can be a prodrome symptom!) and Special Interest.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and chilly.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

3/14/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What will be/are some of the by-products to society of everyone having the ability to take pictures or a video at any time?

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Separation of Church and Parking Lot

How can we repurpose church parking lots for the better?

But unlike the bank in the bottom left of the first map, whose lot is never full—even predictably so—and where one might justify changing the parking requirements to accommodate this phenomenon, churches are assembly halls. Once or twice a week, they do fill up.

And unlike the banks, churches, mosques, temples, and other houses of worship are civic spaces. These spaces are where neighbors come together to share meals and company, or where folks from dispersed corners of a city unite under a common purpose. If a city lacks the density to begin with, and driving to church is the obvious option, there is no good argument for denying a church its parking—they use it!

But a dilemma lies in the five or six days of the week in which these lots sit empty. Churches and other houses of worship are amenities within neighborhoods, but blocks of street-facing parking lots are the opposite. They sit unused for about 250 to 300 days of the year.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Scientists warn that a certain type of earthquake is much more destructive and being overlooked

In a typical quake, a rupture spreads along a fault at a speed slower than shear waves, seismic waves that shake the ground sideways. A supershear rupture outruns those waves, so energy piles up at the rupture tip and forms a sharp shock front.

That shock front is why these quakes can be so damaging. A nearby town can get hammered first by the high speed rupture front, then by the trailing waves in what Elbanna describes as a “double strike”.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today we went to the Home and Garden Expo at the Otto Center. The parking lot was so full, we had to go all the way in the back to find a space -- there's a whole extra lot back there that we'd never even seen before.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Seed Library Network
This website has extensive resources on seed libraries and seed swaps.

Seed the Map
Is your seed library open? Take 5 minutes to get on the Global Seed Library Map.

Explore the Map
Search the map to find other folks in similar regions or at the same type of location.

Seed Library Networks
Check out the other seed library networks & learn about how you can create your own.

Current Mood: busy

kaberett

In apparent celebration of Migraine World Summit, I have spent this evening having an unscheduled migraine attack for no obvious reason. I disapprove. (Because I've been doing a lot of audiovisual processing, captions notwithstanding? Because I had my screen much brighter than usual for a while playing a colours game?* Because oven't?)

Nonetheless I have watched and made digital notes on all of 2026 Day 2, watched and made digital notes on 3/4 talks from 2025 Day 2 (which I missed at the time), and made physical notes for 2025 Day 1 and 1/4 of Day 2. I am... sort of catching up.

I am really enjoying my pens. I also find myself with the problem of wanting lots of different notebooks and, also, to keep everything in One Single Solitary Notebook, For Convenience...

* NB I am a rocks nerd. My colour discrimination is ludicrously good. I am sorry that that link is weird and competitive about my ridiculous score, but not sorry enough to provide you with the bare link.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is partly cloudy and chilly with blustery wind.

I fed the birds. I've seen several sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

3/13/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

3/13/26 -- I moved the 16 water jug greenhouses from the parking lot to near the barrel garden. Many of them have sprouts inside now! :D

3/13/26 -- I trimmed brush along the north side of the house.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

New Worlds: Miscellaneous Arts

Throughout the art sections of this Patreon, I've been grouping them into broad categories: visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, and so forth. But what about the arts that are kinda of . . . none of the above?

This is a fun ramble through many different arts and crafts.

Current Mood: busy

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