starwatcher | Recent Entries

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Greetings, to all who pass by here. If you want to read my posts, welcome aboard.

My "friending" policy is simple, and open. I rarely limit access to my posts (ie, lock); you'll be able to read 99.7% of my writings by merely subscribing to my studio. I may or may not subscribe back, depending on what you write about.

I grant access to friends that I've known for several years. In other words, even if I subscribe to your studio, I probably won't grant access until we've known each other for some time. But that means I don't expect you to grant me access, either; it makes sense to share some of our most sensitive posts only with close friends.

I made a post for folks who are just moving into DW, to explain the difference between 'subscribing' and 'granting access' to your friends/readers.

This post will be 'sticky', and remain at the top of my 'Recent Entries' page. I will gradually add links to pages that I think most people will want to find. DW/LJ informational posts (I tend to get excited when I discover a 'new' -- to me -- or simpler way of doing things) may always be shared and/or linked in your LJ or DW; if my post was useful for you, it may also be useful for your friends.

List of people (mostly Sentinel fans) on LJ and/or DW. Makes it a little easier to find friends in our corner of fandom who are dipping in a toe from the 'other side', and visit / subscribe to their DW studios. NB: If you'd like to be added, just comment under that post.

Edit 1/1/2021 If you want to know more about the person behind the journal, here's my profile, made into a post.

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Crossposts: https://starwatcher307.livejournal.com/379607.html

(This post will remain "on top" of my page.
Current posts are directly below this.)
To all readers of my LiveJournal -- WELCOME!!! I've had a few emails from folks who say "I hope you don't mind if I read your Live Journal." The answer to that is -- of course not! If I didn't want people to read something, I wouldn't post it. If my thoughts are more personal, I'll lock that post to a few friends, and you won't see it anyway. So, if you can see it, feel free to read it. You're welcome to post a comment, even if you don't have an LJ. (But I would like it if you'd "sign" your post with your fandom name, just so I know who you are.) And it's okay to give links to friends if you want to share. ( Click here for more. )

For the tadpoles to still be tadpoles. The little froglet I found a few weeks ago was a one-off; I haven't seen any more. But these are critters that survive in semi-desert, where even big puddles -- more like "flash ponds" -- don't last long; they should have all become froglets within three weeks at most.

I suspect the problem is, my pond is no longer a "pond." It's a poly (some kind of plastic) stock-tank. The liner of the pond finally gave out, and I figured the stock tank would last a lot longer.

BUT! Many years ago, my first or second batch of tadpoles, I bought a kiddie wading pool and kept them in that. They didn't become toads/frogs for several months, and I was too ignorant to know that wasn't normal. Later I read that wading pools are impregnated with a chemical that helps retard algae growth, which also retards tadpole growth. Oops!

I have no idea if the same is true of poly stock-tanks, but it seems likely. I don't know what the chemical was, so I can't look it up. I can only go on probabilities, and undeveloped tadpoles makes that seem like a pretty strong probability.

Fortunately, I happen to still have an old, 50-gallon, metal stock-tank; it's been sitting upside down behind the garage for years. I dragged it over next to the stock tank, hosed it clean, filled it half full of water, and installed a skinny cement block as a ramp for the frogs/toads to climb out and leave when they're ready. Then I spent a couple of hours each on Thursday and Friday evening, scooping up tadpoles with an aquarium net and transferring them to the metal tank. It's an exercise in patience; the tank is 8 foot in diameter, and the water is kind of brown-green, so I can't see them very deep. I have to wait for them to come to the surface, then scoop them up. I think I've transferred most of them, but there are a couple of dozen or so left. I planned to do it this evening, but we had a bit of a storm. That means the rain came down hard, but will probably be only 3/4th inch when I check the gauge tomorrow. Regardless, it was enough to keep me indoors. But the tadpoles will wait till tomorrow; the stock-tank isn't actually killing them.

I guess we live and learn. Now I need to decide if I want to replace the poly tank with a metal tank. And can I sell a used poly tank?

But that decision will wait for another day.

...of the way every commentator -- even left-leaning -- talks about the recent ICE murders.

"He wasn't even the target," they say. "They targeted the wrong man."

NO! NO!!!

Even if they located the correct "target", they did not have the right to shoot him. The problem isn't that they chose the wrong person. The problem is that they assume the right to shoot to kill -- and use that assumption at the slightest provocation.

The result of an immigration stop is supposed to be questioning, possibly followed by arrest and transportation to jail. It is NOT supposed to result in cold-blooded MURDER!!!

I hope the Democrats take unassailable majorities in House and Senate in November. If they do, high up on the list of "first things to do" should be to disband ICE and prosecute every single one of those murderous "enforcers."

Not mine; thefourthvine's. If you don't have her on your friends' list, you must read her latest post, Creativity and Porn. 😄 TFV doesn't post frequently nowadays, but when she does, they're delightful. Enjoy!

As I said in my tadpole post, my pond is "under renovation." That means no liner on two sides, so that I can dig out some dirt and widen it about 4 inches to drop a stock tank in the hole. There was still liner in the bottom of the pond, but the water was only about 3 inches deep, incredibly muddy, and I had to keep adding more water. So last week I scooped up all the tadpoles and dropped them in the stock tank, which is an above-ground pond until I'm ready to drain it and move it. (I built steps of cement blocks so the small animals could get up to the water.)

The water in the stock tank is green -- unlike the orange turd, I know that algae is a fact of life unless you have fish or plants to clear the algae -- but I can see a couple of inches down (unlike the pond bottom, which was completely opaque). So I go by every evening to check on the babies. They're eating heartily, and I'd hoped they'd clear the algae, but I think there just aren't enough. Yes, I transferred several hundred, at least, but other years have numbered in the thousands. Ah, well; when I get the stock tank in the ground, I plan to try adding water hyacinth and water snails. Maybe that'll help.

ANYway, I when I checked on the babies tonight, I saw the first froglet -- all four legs developed, but with about half his tail still remaining. Very cool. I scooped him up on my finger, and carried him over to the cement block that slopes into the water. Hopefully he'll stay close enough to find it again if he wants to crawl out. *wipes away a fake tear* They grow up so fast.

In other news, I wrote a new story -- Jim and Blair watching the World Cup, a whole 260 words. But it was a 20-minute "creative stint" during yesterday's Sentinel chat; that's what came out, and it doesn't seem to need more. During the second stint, I got started on the cover art, though I had to finish that later. All in all, I feel it was a good weekend.

I "met" Todd, AKA "RuleofClaw," through DailyKos, the liberal news/blog site. Long story short, he's supporting himself, in ill health, his disabled wife, in ill health, his autistic brother, and his disabled mother.

He gains some fair amount of his income from subscriptions to a weekly newsletter he posts, but subscriptions have fallen off since the orange turd was elected. Today, he's asking for help.

My name is Todd, and I'm asking for something I don't particularly enjoy asking for: a little help getting the word out.

For years, I've published a newsletter because I believe informed people can make a difference. Every edition represents hours of work, research, writing, and persistence. There are hundreds of issues in the archive now, and I've kept showing up week after week because I believe the work has value.

The challenge is that creating the newsletter and growing the newsletter are two very different skills. Writing has never been the hard part for me. Marketing has.

What makes that especially difficult is that the newsletter isn't the only responsibility I'm carrying. My family has faced more than its share of setbacks over the years. I survived cancer. My mother lives with a disability. My brother is autistic and has needed support and stability as he found his footing in the world. Later, I developed long COVID myself.

Life did not slow down after that.

My wife is now on disability because of kidney failure, and today begins another major chapter in that journey as she transitions to a dialysis cycler. Last year, my mother-in-law lost her battle with cancer. I am also largely estranged from my father's side of the family. These days, the circle is small: my wife, my mother, my brother, and me.

That reality is a large part of why I keep writing. The newsletter isn't just a passion project. It's one of the ways I try to contribute, provide, and build something meaningful despite circumstances that would have been enough to stop many people.

I won't pretend it has always been easy. There have been threats, insults, and harassment against me, and plenty of moments when opening my inbox felt like the last thing I wanted to do. There have been days when I questioned whether it was worth continuing.

But every week, I publish another edition anyway.

I do it because I still believe the issues I write about matter. I still believe independent voices matter. And I still believe that thoughtful writing can have an impact, even when the internet seems determined to reward everything except thoughtfulness.

The newsletter is supported through email subscriptions and Patreon, but growth has slowed considerably. That's why I'm reaching out. I'm not asking anyone to support something blindly. Quite the opposite. Take a look. Read a few editions. See what I've spent years building.

If it isn't for you, that's perfectly okay.

But if you find value in it—if you think the work is worthwhile—I would be grateful if you shared it with others, mentioned it to friends, or helped spread the word in whatever way you can.

The hardest part of independent publishing isn't creating the work. It's helping people discover it. That's the part where I could use some help.

My Patreon is patreon.com/theclawnews

I am hopeful that enough people will see this, give the newsletter a chance, and help me continue doing work that I care deeply about while supporting the family that depends on me.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

All the best,

Todd

(me again) Each newsletter includes two long, thoughtful, well-researched articles, with links if the reader wants to follow up, and ends with a few cute animal memes -- well worth the $5 minimum Patreon subscription.

I know times are hard, but if you can spare $5 a month, it would go for a good cause. Personally, I like to give more, but I don't want to go through Patreon, with the added fees. Todd posts his "admin" email at the end of each newsletter; I asked for his Paypal addy, and I send the "more" directly to Todd via that, so that's an option if you're so inclined.

And that's all. Thanks for listening.

I had a "tadpole rain" Wednesday night -- enough rain in a short enough time (at least 2 inches within an hour) to trigger mating in the frogs/toads. (I'm not sure which.) Thursday morning, they were croaking when I woke up, and the neighbor's pasture (flat, packed dirt with no vegetation because goats) was a shimmering sheet of silver. I had lots of big puddles, but I have much more vegetation since the horses died, so no giant areas of water except the pond.

It's been over 3 years since conditions lined up. It means I'll spend several hours Saturday and Sunday scooping tadpoles out of evaporating puddles and moving them to the pond, where they'll have enough water to complete their development. But I'm enchanted by them, and so pleased we'll get a new batch. The croaking wasn't as loud or pervasive as I've heard in other years; I wonder if some didn't survive our extended drought conditions. Still, another generation on the horizon, so that's cool.

Cribbed from Marilyn's Facebook page, a song about Rome's Nero, which directly references the current U.S "Nero" in office. Doesn't solve anything, but nice to see folks being aware.

Grab them here.

Pass it on wherever you like.

Does anyone know Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles? Probably not; it goes back to 1979. But I listen to the "Oldies" station on the car radio, or if I want music in the house, and I've heard it often enough that I recognize it.

The entrance to the chorus (?) is a female voice singing, "Oh, ah-oh!" (At about the 30-second mark on the video.)

So Monday evening, I was out cleaning pump filters for the pond and water tubs, and a bird was calling nearby. I swear, part of his call matched the "ah-oh" in cadence and note-interval. (My ear isn't good enough to know if it was the right notes, or just the right relationship between notes.) It was distinct enough, and recognizable enough, that it immediately reminded me of the song, and there I was, trying to sing it.

(Unfortunately -- or maybe fortunately? -- I know only four lines of the song, two of which are, "Video Killed the Radio Star." LOL!)

I wasn't able to get a visual sighting of the bird, but it wasn't one I recognize by call. We don't have that many varieties of birds around here, and I know most of the calls. (House finch, dove, mockingbird, grackle, meadowlark, quail are most common.) It could have been passing through, heading for more northern latitudes. I'll be alert for hearing it again, but it could well have been a one-time occurrence.

Nothing big, here. Just a possibly interesting snippet of outdoor life in rural New Mexico.

Based on comments under his first entry, the guy who developed the app has made some changes and improvements. He added a "warrant canary," and expanded the map -- it now can toggle between "within 25 miles" and "all sightings." He also adds some computery-type identification that people can verify.

So, if folks were hesitant to try it before, check out the new post. It might answer your questions and concerns.

And again, feel free to pass this link and/or info on wherever you think it might be useful.

From this post in Daily Kos. "I built an ICE tracking app that can't be pulled from the App Store. Because it was never in one."

This person developed an app that tracks when ICE is present in the vicinity, and sends an alert to your phone. No cost. No ads. No presence in an app store for TPTB to pull it. Hosted in the Netherlands, so the US government can't issue a takedown order to the provider.

There's lots of discussion in the comments about "what if" and conversations about coding that I can't follow, but it might be reassuring to those on the fence... or maybe a red light. I don't know. But if you live in an area where ICE is -- or might be -- active, it's worth taking a look.

Forgot to say -- The developer wants news of this to spread as far as possible. So feel free to link to this post, or to the source post in DK, to share the information.

Just what the title says. This post is mostly for me; I need a place to keep cute animal vid links to share with Cindy. But if you want to watch 30 to 60 seconds of animals being cute -- mostly on TikTok and/or BlueSky, enjoy!

Music vid, Ilya/Ducky comparison. 3 minutes

making popcorn in paper bag

MacGyver on Enterprise

petting a squirrel

car umbrella

duck and dog friendship

cat swimming in ocean

dog herding cat

throw crock for dog

golden retriever vs husky 6 min

Walter won’t fetch

huskies are useless, get one 5 min

parrot matches colors

cat appalled at bath water

dog with ball skills

dog break dancing

dog on skateboard

dog belly dancing

normal dog vs husky

Uzbek bread making

dog pulls cat on sled 3:20 minutes

silent letter day 4:40 minutes

“easy open” desk 3 minutes

I'm trying to email a photo from my iPhone to my computer. I know the theory --

1. Select photo.
2. Tap 'share'.
3. Select email.
4. Type addy and subject line.
5. Hit send.

But THEN --

I get a popup that says, "This message is 1.7 MB. You can reduce message size by scaling the image to one of the sizes below."

<shrug> I don't need such a large file, so I tap the next larger 487KB size. And then... NOTHING HAPPENS. The message disappears, but there's no option to hit the "send" arrow again, and there's no "swoosh" sound effect to tell me the mail is on its way.

I've initiated a "send picture" 5 or 6 times over the last 30 minutes. It hasn't shown up in my inbox, nor in my spam.

Any ideas? I've successfully sent pics to myself from my iPad, so I know it should work. But it's not, which frustrates the hell out of me. If I'm doing something wrong, I'm always ready to correct myself. But when the machine doesn't work as it should, I get pissed. This phone is only a year or so old; it's not hammer time yet, but grrr...

But I'm laughing with this person, not at them. I picture a very young fan person in their first flush of discovering the magic that is fanfic, and realizing that they can write it themself.

"When I wrote one of my first My Little Pony fanfics, I made the main characters teamsters, because my hasty research into fan fiction suggested that shipping was popular."

(From halfway down this thread.)

I can't help it; I'm still wearing a big grin on my face.

A while back,

princessofgeeks warned her reading list NOT to update iPhones to 26.2, that the changes in appearance and message were very unpleasant.

I appreciated her warning, and have refused the update 2 or 3 times. But I knew it would keep bugging me, so I went looking for a way to avoid the update permanently.

I found this article, which explains how. The guy says that switching to the "18" track will avoid the "26" track permanently. And if you've already updated, and dislike it as much as PrincessofGeeks does -- if I'm reading it right, setting your iPhone on the "18" track will delete the 26.2 update.

There are probably plenty of people who will like the update. But if not, now there's a remedy. I already have an uneasy relationship with my iPhone. I don't need an update that makes me change how I do old stuff, and learn new stuff, so I've rejected it sight unseen.

If any of your peeps have been unhappy about this latest update, feel free to link to this post.

https://earlybirdbooks.com/deals/1000-ebook-sale

Last week,

thewayne pointed out that Early Bird Books has these big sales every Friday. I hadn't noticed; days of the week barely register for me anymore. So, it's worth subscribing to their newsletter for early notification, especially if my post comes late in the day for you.

Twenty years ago, I wrote a short challenge story -- The Honor of Friendship. I named one of the OCs "Lilianna" -- the daughter of one of Jim Ellison's men who died in Peru.

Today I'm writing a note for Aly's profile on AO3; we so seldom get word of "what happened to" the people behind our fave stories, and I thought other fans might like to know. Aly was a big promoter of Moonridge Zoo, which Garett donated to, and, to a lesser extent, the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which Richard donated to. But I had forgotten the name of the charity Richard was connected to, so I went searching. Found it, obviously, but while I was searching, I discovered that Richard's wife is (or was; I didn't check dates) named "Liliana."

*high-pitched spooky voice* Doo-doo, doo-doo; doo-doo, doo-doo...

Aly / Alyjude / Alyburns / Alyjude_Sideburns (depending on the era, fandom, or platform) died just after Christmas. She was a bright light in Sentinel fandom, with 181 stories written and posted.* Her most recent was a short story for 2025's Secret Santa. I beta'd it for her, and she was so pleased to be writing again -- on her phone, no less! Her love for Jim and Blair was immense, and the relationship she depicted between them shone from the pages. They had their ups and downs, just as in the source material, and some of her stories were very angsty indeed, but she always, always gave them a happy ending. (Well, almost always. There are a couple that are bittersweet.) I remember she once said, "Jim and Blair sing to me," and it showed in her work.

She also wrote a bunch of Stargate SG-1, and a few Stargate Atlantis. Unfortunately, in those days, I was so focused on the Sentinel fandom that I didn't notice her Stargate stories. Shame on me! (Of course, it didn't help that they were in a different archive; I may not even have known about them until she posted them at AO3; I've slept since then, and memory is hazy. Thank goodness for a central archive.) But I've since read a few, and her deft story-telling shows in those stories, too -- Jack-and-Daniel snark for the win! If anyone knows a Stargate comm where this information would be appropriate, feel free to link to this post.

Unfortunately, Aly's health in recent years was not good, but she never complained. She'd text something like, "Tired. Just got out of the hospital. I'll write tomorrow," and that would be all she'd say about it. Magician tells us more on Aly's Facebook page. Where it says "# friends posted on Aly's profile," click "See x more." Magician's post is under the name "Queenie Nln."

I'm going to miss her so much. In recent years, knowing she was confined to her home with only her cat for company, I made it a habit to email her several times a month, with jokes and pictures and little video clips that I found elsewhere on the net. At least two or three times a day, I find myself thinking, "Oh, gotta save that for Aly." No more.

Rest in peace, Aly. I'll remember you, and miss you.

--

About that * next to her story-count. Several years ago, I was going through Aly's stories on AO3, making sure that I had copies of each of them saved to my computer. (Yes, I hoard stories; I've seen too much disappear from the net, and I want everything in my hot little hand.) I discovered that I had a bunch of saved Aly stories that never made it to AO3. Several years before the "several years ago," a number of Aly's friends helped post her stories from the several sites they had been on, to AO3. I was part of the project, and it was... kind of hectic, to be honest; so much work to transfer. There were so many of us, sharing out files so that each person didn't have to post too many stories, that some obviously fell through the cracks.

Aly and I discussed it. She herself admits that punctuation in her early stories was eclectic; she was writing with feverish inspiration on Web TV -- no way to save her work for "later," or to have someone beta it. Basically she posted "live," as each story was written. Now, she had only her phone for editing and uploading. Ugh! We agreed that I'd do a beta pass on the stories, format them for AO3, then upload them with what I thought was appropriate summary and tags. Later, when she felt up to it, she would go in and make any additions / notes / changes she wanted.

So, I made a collection -- Alyjude's Rediscovered Sentinel Stories, and gleefully jumped in. I got 33 posted... and then got distracted by "stuff." (My niece moved with my help, my sis had a big project with my help, etc, etc, etc.) And Aly didn't push, or nag; she knew I'd do it eventually. But now I look at the last posting date, and it's coming up on two years. Shame on me! I've been meaning to post the rest of them -- about 20 more -- maybe in time for her birthday, but now it's too late for her to see them.

<sigh> Aly was excited to have her "lost" stories at AO3, and I want them available to old and new Sentinel fans; they're part of our shared fandom history. So, in Aly's memory, I will get the rest of her stories up before the end of the year. My health is pretty good, but... we just never know, do we?

I hope she'll look down and be pleased to see folks still enjoying her stories.

This is the list where you can choose different sellers. Here's the sale link --

https://earlybirdbooks.com/deals/1000-ebook-sale

**

Folks, I often don't open my laptop until noon or later. Since my timezone is GMT+7, that's awfully late for anyone in Europe, and these posts are fairly useless.

BUT! Note that there's a "subscribe" button at the top of the Early Bird Books page. If you subscribe, you'll get a daily email that lists a dozen or so discounted books, as well as early notification of these massive sales. (This one hit my inbox at 5:20 A.M.)

Also check out Bookbub -- https://www.bookbub.com/ If you sign up, you select the genres you like to read and your seller of choice. Then you get a daily email with approximately 15 to 30 discounted books in your selected genres. Bookbub doesn't have the massive sales like Early Bird Books, but often there are 3 or 4 titles "free" in the daily list. (At least, in the Romance genre.)

**

As always, feel free to share this post or info wherever you choose. Happy reading!

Links to all platforms / booksellers.

https://www.romancebookworms.com/

As always, feel free to share.

One of my friends just got a new-to-her comment on AO3, and I realized that a lot of people don't know about this, and it's a real gut-punch to get one out of the blue. Since forewarned is forearmed, I'll share what I know in case it happens to you. Feel free to copy and/or share this post wherever you feel it could be useful.

I see daily complaints / questions about this on Reddit. AO3 is having a terrible influx of bots and/or scammers. A common variant is a comment that is thrilled with your story, such that they want to "create art" or "create comics" or "discuss ideas for improvement." If someone says 'yes', the next request is to talk off AO3, where they start discussing/demanding money.

There are various forms of hate!bots. "Your story started out so good, then you ruined it by doing X, Y, and Z, how could you let down your readers like that?" Or, "Oh my god, who told you could write? Your story is ordinary and boring, and your grammar and sentence structure are the pits! Go back to school and grow up before you try writing again." By reports, some of them are quite viciously savage. Or, "Your story would be so much better if you included transgender representation; please think of all the trans folks who need to see themselves in media and add a trans character to your story!"

Another is accusations of using AI to write your story, they'll report you immediately, how dare you cheat like that, and you should delete all your stories / account now before you get banned. (For the record, AI is allowed at AO3.)

In other words -- anything that seems outside the norms of fandom interaction is probably a bot or scammer. For example, you know I make art, but I don't approach the author before I start to "sell" them on the idea. I make the art because I want to, then post it, then give the writer the code to use or not, as they choose. There's no going off AO3 to "discuss" it.

(Although there have been a few email exchanges with authors I knew well, to ask their preferences about projects I'd already started. Like "this dress or that dress?" And, "tree A or tree B?" But the dress and tree would be there regardless. It's all about context.)

The recommended response to any of these bots/scammers is to report the comment, then let AO3 deal with and swat them.

So far -- knock on wood -- I haven't had one of these comments, but I've learned about them from Reddit. (That's where I got all my examples.) As I said, be on the lookout, and share where appropriate.

EDIT:

raine reminds me that there have also been hacking bots, trying to get into AO3 accounts. Users get an email saying, "someone has requested a password reset for your account." They can be ignored; since it comes to your email, it shows that the bots didn't succeed. AO3's statement is:

“We've recently received a number of other reports from users who are receiving password reset emails that they did not request. We would like to reassure you that receiving these emails does not necessarily mean that someone is deliberately trying to harass you or gain access to ("hack") your account, nor does it mean that your account is at risk.

Password reset emails are automatic messages sent when someone enters either your username or email address into the 'Forgot Password?' form. The emails themselves are not a security threat, and can be safely ignored so long as the email address associated with your AO3 account is secure. Your password will not change unless you use the password reset link."

Peace.

Ever since I can remember, I've had an amazing memory for song lyrics. (Wish my memory for other things was as good.) If I know a song well enough to sing along, and am reminded of it, I can recall the lyrics even after 40 years. It may take a few hours, or even a couple of days, for the memory to trickle back, but it usually does.

I subscribe to Politizoom, a liberal political blog. Every Sunday, the "Furkids" post an illustrated song -- you listen to the song while scrolling down the page to read the lyrics, each line accompanied by a cute animal picture.

This past Sunday, the song was A Thousand Years, by Christina Perri. I didn't recognize the artist (I'm woefully behind on contemporary music), but the title excited me -- I know that song! Only... no... no, I didn't. Big disappointment; it wasn't at all what I expected to hear.

My mind insisted that I knew a song with "a thousand years" in it, but the memory was so faint that I couldn't grab it. I did a search for "lyrics million years" and went through 15 pages of results. I found two or three other results for "million years" -- none of which stirred a spark of recognition -- but 99% of the results were the song from the Furkids' page.

Finally, as I was leaving Cindy's house this afternoon, I realized that the voice singing the song that I still couldn't remember was Eddy Arnold. That was enough. I opened my iTunes app, scanned down my list of Eddy Arnold songs, and there it was! The lyrics are actually "a million years," which aren't evident from the title -- Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye -- but as soon as I saw it, I knew. Vindicated!

Which isn't earth-shaking, even to me, but I'm very pleased I tracked it down.

https://earlybirdbooks.com/deals/best-ebook-deals

Filter genres and booksellers at top left.

... ad about his oh-so-grand ballroom. (AI generated) We wouldn't want it spread around and shared over multiple platforms, now would we? (StarWatcher winks very obviously.)

Road maintenance, USA style, is variable, to say the least. Potholes are filled -- eventually. Cracks are often filled with a "drizzle" of asphalt. When the road needs refurbishing, it gets "chip-sealed." This is a process of laying down a thin layer of tar, covering that with a layer of small pebbles, and pressing it into the tar. It's actually pretty effective, after a period of "settling in" by being driven on. And finally, if the road warrants it, it'll be dug up and completely rebuilt.

So, the four-mile stretch between my road and the next intersection has been rebuilt. It's been a slow process that started back in April or May. (I've slept since then.) But now that stretch of road is finished, a little wider than it was (yay!), and smoo-o-o-oth. It's been a treat to drive on; we don't often get such a quiet, non-bumpy ride around here.

When I went to town on Monday, there were orange barrels beside the road. I figured they would block off sections as they applied the striping. When I headed home today, I discovered they had chip-sealed one lane; I assume the other will be done tomorrow.

I am absolutely dumbfounded. Why on earth did someone direct the workers to chip-seal a brand new road?!?? Maybe someone got roads mixed up -- they've chip-sealed roads to the east and west of this one. (I took alternate routes to get to town while the rebuilding was going on, so I got to see the chip-sealing "spread.") And I know the workers have to do what they're told. But wasn't there anyone on the team who could call someone of more seniority and say, "Hey, look, this is a brand-new road. Isn't this chip-sealing supposed to be going on a different road?"

I mean... if this road gets an unnecessary treatment, there won't be the funds for some other road to get the treatment it needs. Talk about government waste!

Or maybe this is a case of, "That's New Mexico." Right up there with the way they re-striped my road about 15 years ago, with double-striping (don't pass) the entire 8.5-mile length. I'm sure people complained; there had previously been plenty of places where passing was allowed. So, a few weeks later, they had to cover the 2nd stripe with black paint, in places where it was okay to pass. I just shook my head; such a stupid mistake to make, but seems par for the course around here.

My European and British friends... is road maintenance any more sensible over there than it is here?

Till "midnight." Still no clue to which midnight.

Filter genres and/or booksellers at top of page.

https://earlybirdbooks.com/deals/best-ebook-deals

Like many people, I pay my monthly bills online. Just went to pay my natural gas bill, and they have a new payment provider / controller / whatever. Need to register with the new system. There's a field where we have to put in our account number, which is 16 digits. After a couple of false starts, I discover that the reason I keep getting error messages is that the field accepts only 15 digits!!!

*headdesk* Now, I don't know a whole lot about coding... but isn't it kind of obvious that you need to make the field capable of holding ALL the required information?

And there's not even a way to contact the payment company. I emailed the gas company to tell the payment company. Hopefully they'll get it fixed in a few days.

Just... so stupid.

"Giant" is their description, not mine, but they tout 1,500 books on sale.

Note that you can select different retailers in the top drop-down menu, and specific genres in the list to the left.

Sale ends at "midnight." They never say which midnight, but I suspect it's one of the U.S timezones, which are UTC-5 to UTC-8.

Pass this on wherever you like.

Also -- where the hell does the time go?

Needed to do a bunch of chores this afternoon. Started early because it was thundering, and might rain.

1] Filled the cat-feeders -- one in back yard, one in garage, two in barn.

2] Changed the pump filters in pond. Discovered the pump was partially clogged with strands of feathers or grass. HOW??? That's what the filters are for, dadgummit! So took the pump apart to clean it.

[3] Did a "first-rinse" of filters, left them to soak for later cleaning.

4] The ducks (?) keep knocking the plastic planter-saucer off the second water tub. (For the little birds to perch and drink. Post for "one day.") WHY??? So I got my tools and some wire, made a couple of "hooks" to hang over opposite edges, anchored to the supporting bars below.

[5] Went down the drive to dump bags of milo seed for the birds.

[6] Took the empty bags to the garage. I stuff all the empty bags into another bag until it's full and I take it to the trash. This bag is almost full; I think these bags will be the last until I staple it shut. As I approach (I have gates over garage opening, not a door), I see an elongated dark thing on the top of the crumpled bags. I'm trying to remember what I've thrown away that meets that description, drawing a blank. Then I get closer -- about three feet away -- and it moves, raises its head! It's a snake!

I learned long ago to "startle in place" -- thanks to brothers that thought it was fun to try to spook their sisters. I took a half step back, quietly said, "Oh. My. God," and evaluated the snake. Very slender -- about 1-1/2 fingers' thickness -- and very dark, almost black, mottled pattern. Small head, with no "shovel-shape" as it attached to the neck; definitely not a rattlesnake, and this part of the country doesn't have any other venomous snakes. (Not that a rattlesnake would have changed my actions; I simply would have left faster!) It started to crawl away from me, got into a 5-gallon bucket laying sideways on the plastic bin that the bag was leaning against, turned around and headed out. Pretty long for it's slenderness -- maybe 3-1/2 feet or so.

No idea why it was on those bags; they only carried grain, nothing a snake could eat. But maybe -- probably -- mice have been checking out the empty bags, and the snake smelled that? Its head didn't look big enough to swallow a mouse, even with an unhinged jaw, but if it thinks it can, I'm all for decreasing the mouse population.

I probably don't need to say that I didn't stuff the empty grain bags into the almost-full bag; tossed them on the floor till later, and left the garage.

[7] Got into the house and discovered that 1 hour and 45 minutes had elapsed! What? How? I didn't do that much!!!

*looks over the list* Well... yes I did. Hadn't intended the need to clean the pump, or to devise a way that the ducks can't knock down the planter-saucer. But even so, the list would probably have taken 50 minutes, which just seems wrong. It's so easy to say, "Need to fill the cat-feeders, change the filters, dump bird seed." Seems like all that should take 30 minutes, at most. But there's a lot of walking between house and barn (a couple of times), or house and pond (a couple of times), and house and bird-feeding area. Still, dammit... I wonder if some psychic entity is stealing a minute here and a minute there, without me noticing, to make me take longer.

Well, that's life in rural America. Now I need to divide a batch of chili into lunch-sized portions and freeze them. Then I need to put out new fly-traps -- about 20 minutes? I'll need to time it.

I've made an executive decision -- laundry will wait until tomorrow.

I'd rather be reading fanfic. Sometimes adulting sucks.

I had an email today -- Sheila, AKA Buewolf458 here on DW and AO3, has died. She had suffered from dementia the past few years, and died peacefully in her sleep. She leaves behind a large number of fandom friends who are mourning her passing, and a large body of work at AO3.

A week ago -- Aug 8 -- I got the news that Ande, AKA Andeincascade at DW and AO3, has also died. I don't have any more information than that.

I met both ladies at a few Moonridge events; they were both fun to hang out with. That's one of the worst things about getting old; people we knew in our "younger days" leave us behind.

Anyway, if any of you know other spaces where either of these women once participated, feel free to pass on the news.

How, you ask? It’s a long, meandering tale, with pictures, so it all goes behind the cut.

( Right this way. )

As in the title. Sale ends at midnight; I assume USA Eastern time (GMT -5, I believe). Links to all the booksellers -- Amazon, Apple, B&N, Google, Kobol.

This is the main link; you can filter by genre in the top menu.

Happy reading!

I internet-know a guy who's really struggling; he's fighting cancer, his wife is on dialysis for kidney failure, and his mother-in-law is dying, but the hospital she's in wants to send her away. Todd writes:

I don't know what to do. It seems that Valerie's Mom is beginning the dying process but the hospital is trying to force her out and into a nursing home which isn't covered. She doesn't have the funds, but nor can she qualify for Medicaid.

We have funeral costs that we have set aside-we tried to be frugal and she even chose to do cremation to save costs but there are still a couple of thousand left.

We planned for that. But the hospice process I don't understand. That is hundreds a day I guess upfront, we are trying to figure that out now. If we do in-home Valerie and I will have to be responsible for something she we aren't trained for and with her on dialysis, that is scary. The hospital doesn't seem to care. I don't know what to do. I am sad, and scared, and need advice. Any help is much, much appreciated but I really need to know who to talk to. And please share this, if you can. I will be doing an update later on detailing everything we have been through, and it is just so much..so much.

I didn't think a hospital would do this when she is in this much distress.

Todd has a GoFundMe; I don't know if it's possible to contact someone through that.

If you have any suggestions, and can't contact Todd through the GoFundMe, leave your suggestions in a comment, and I'll send it to him via email.

You all know Murphy's law, right? (Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.) It's so apt that many corollaries have been written for it. Like: "Anything that goes wrong will go wrong at the most inconvenient time and in the most difficult manner." Or: "Any job you plan will take twice as long as you expect. Even if you plan for a longer than expected time, the job will take twice as long as that."

(Google Murphy's Law corollaries; there are lists of dozen. Here's a fairly comprehensive example.)

I ran afoul of the last one I listed. Went out to check the water level in the pond, discovered that the pump that feeds the birdbath wasn't running. <sigh> The pump is encased in a homemade filter (one of these days I'll make a long, explanatory post about it), but some mud oozes through and clogs it up once in a while. I suspect the mud is about 50% duck poop (the neighbor has free-range ducks and geese) which is [a] more liquid, so [b] easier to ooze through the filter, and [c] much yuckier.

If I just change the filters, it takes about 10 minutes -- cut the twine that holds two round filters in the top of a bucket, put two new filters in, tie them in place. But last time, I tried to devise a filter around the output hose; it doesn't fit tight in the exit hole, and the pump draws water through there as well as the filters. It was obvious that the hose filter wasn't working as I'd hoped, so I tried to modify it by sewing the slits tight at the sides of the hose. (I had thought the suction of the pump would draw the slits inward, but no, they seemed to have separated instead.) Sounds easy enough -- but I was working in a restricted area (at the end of the hose, so I couldn't lift it up to a higher working area), in 95^o temps (35 for those who use Celsius), with flies swarming my legs and arms. GAH!!! So, the 10-minute job took 80 minutes.

But I'm cautiously hopeful that I've make the filters more efficient. We'll see...

Help me, great fandom hive-mind.

I signed up for Netflix.

I updated my iPad iOS. (Two hours.)

I downloaded the Netflix app. (Fifteen minutes.)

I signed into my account.

I clicked on Old Guard 2.

Several sources tell me that I can click the "Download" button to get it on my iPad. But I've looked all over the screen, and don't see anything that seems appropriate. Do any of you know what the hell it looks like, or where it is on the screen?

Alternatively, this article -- https://techdetective.com/netflix-no-download-button/ -- tells me that I can download with Windows 10, which I'd much prefer; I want it on my laptop. But Netflix says it can be download only on Apple or Chrome devices, or Android phones. Can anyone confirm or deny, and walk me through it?

Yeah, I'll watch it through Dish on my TV -- but I want to have it close for when I make a transcript. (I feel like it's kind of my duty...)

Y'know, I'd happily pay $39.95 for a DVD if Netflix would just make available!!! I'd even break down and buy a Blu-Ray player if they put it out only in that format. I just hate this current expectation that everyone is enamored of streaming services. Grrr...

EDIT: Thanks to Mific, I found the download button, and it's in progress. Now to figure out how to get on my laptop... *StarWatcher wanders away, mumbling into her beard*

This one has multiple genres.

Books for sale, mostly $1 to $3

Hit the "Genres" button at the top of the page to narrow your search.

Happy reading!

ETA: Jesse_the_k notes that "This is a meta-search engine, compiling deals from Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Google and Kobo." I didn't realize that was note-worthy, but yeah. Whatever platform you use to read, you're covered.

I don't know how to embed images that aren't mine, so here's the link to the ~~Reddit~~ Quora post --

https://qr.ae/pAl6KF

Hooray! I saw this in time for people to get in on the deal.

"On Friday, June 20, 2025, get a curated offering of free romance books at your preferred ebook retailer, no strings attached. This is just a helpful collection of free-for-a-limited-time romance ebooks!"

https://www.romancebookworms.com/

Feel free to share this wherever.

For those who don't know, Quantum Bang is a super-sized version of Big Bang (fic productions, not the TV show). Stories are written in a variety of fandoms, and most are epic in length, with a number of art illustrations. Some will eventually appear on AO3, but some remain only on the QB site.

For the next two weeks, two (or sometimes three) stories will be posted each day. Here's a list of the titles, and what fandom is represented, that will be posted.

https://quantumbang.org/2025-posting-schedule/

Every year I tell myself to let people know, and every year I fritter away the time. This year, I'm finally taking a minute to actually make a post. And if you don't see anything that piques your interest, click on the Fiction Index to check out stories from the past six years.

Happy reading!

So, most of you know that I visit Cindy most afternoons. (She doesn't always feel well enough for a visit.) Somewhere in the past couple of years, we switched from watching Lucifer and me reading fanfic, to me reading novels.

Cindy prefers romantic suspense, or action-adventure-romance. Other genres are okay, if there's at least a little M/F love interest. Sometimes, of course, there's more than a little.

Now, picture this: Cindy's lying in bed. I'm reading aloud, with my voice a little louder than normal, because Cindy's hearing is decreased. Her husband Carl may be shopping, or at the shooting range, but is usually doing housework or woodwork. Occasionally he comes into the bedroom for something he needs, or to tell Cindy something.

So, he's barefoot, walking down a carpeted hall; we don't know he's coming until he appears in the doorway. And, far too often, he appears -- and has heard as he approaches the doorway -- just as I'm reading a slightly (or more than slightly) salacious line.

Yesterday, it was, "Locating a skull had been difficult, Amelia reflected, but finding a codpiece had been considerably more of a challenge." He literally appeared at the doorway just as I said, "codpiece."

*facepalm*

We all had a good laugh; Cindy and Carl aren't at all stuffy, and Carl likes to tease about things like that. (He said, "Yeah, it would be!") But still, I'd rather he walked in a couple of sentences earlier, when I was reading, "It showed another extremely handsome young man dressed in the ancient Italian style."

Good grief! Who knew reading aloud could be dangerous?

(The book is Second Sight by Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Ann Krentz. Set in the late 1890's, a woman photographer is making a series of art photographs of "Men of Shakespeare." The skull was for Hamlet, the codpiece for Romeo. That's not the point of the book, but the mystery centers around photography, so her work is discussed.)

https://fairfieldpublishing.com/cozy-mystery-sale-may-2025/

For 99 cents, a selection of Cozy mysteries, and some series. As far as I can tell, the sale ends Saturday at midnight, USA mountain time, Greenwich -7. (There's a countdown clock on my page. I have no idea if that's adjusted for different time-zones, or the same for everyone.) Happy reading.

I live on the "high plains" of New Mexico. We're about 3,000' elevation, the land is very flat, and there's precious little to block or lessen the force of the wind when it blows. Personally, I don't call it "windy" until the speed is over 15 mph. Below that, it's just "breezy."

But today (and yesterday) was crazy windy, even by our standards. I spent the day out -- taxes, lunch, visit with Cindy -- and came home to find the neighbor's outbuilding in my back pasture. It's not small, either; looks to be about 12' by 20', maybe 30'. Built on a frame, probably aluminum, covered with sheet metal. It's standing upright, though kind of crazy cock-eyed slanted, between my two fences. Looks like it was simply picked up, sailed over the fence, then dropped in place. Kind of unnerving, actually.

The wind is supposed to be very light tomorrow -- 15 mph -- then pick up again on Thursday. Change of plans -- I'll shop tomorrow instead of Thursday. I planned on Thursday so I wouldn't be eating out two days in a row, but oh well. It could be so much worse; the evening news just reported that the wind was so strong in Oklahoma, it tore the roofs off houses. Dust and traveling outbuildings are small potatoes.

So, you know how some early fanfic loaded onto webpages has funky symbols for punctuation like quotes, ellipses, and others? I used to know how to fix that; I went to 'view' or something like that in the toolbar, and told the page to load in Unicode. But somewhere along the way, what with changed computers and updated browsers, the 'View' option in the toolbar disappeared.

I'm currently trying to locate and save all the pre-AO3 Sentinel fic. The latest author has several stories with the funky ?-in-diamond instead of quotes. I decided it was time to find a solution. Note that this is for the Firefox browser, but now that you know it's available, maybe you can find it if you use a different browser.

1. Click on application menu. (Upper right corner, 3 horizontal lines.)
2. Click on 'More tools'.
3. Click on 'Customize toolbar'.
4. Locate the 'Fix text encoding' symbol. It looks like æ in the middle of a gray box outline.
5. Drag it up to the toolbar.

Voilà! Now when I meet a page with funky characters, one click on the 'fix encoding' icon, and the page is nice and readable again. Should have done this months ago. (Of course, it doesn't come up that often, but still...)

Happy funky-character-free reading!

You may or may not know that I've been attending regular acupuncture sessions for over a dozen years. I was having increasing pains (felt like electrical jolts) in my fingers, caused by carpal tunnel syndrome. I did not want surgery; considering that I cared for two horses, and all the other daily chores of country-living, I knew there was no way to avoid over-using my hands during the healing period. After my hands were better, sessions segued into alleviating the irritating pains of increasing age.

ANYway, he's a very personable man, and we always chat a little before we get down to business, so he's known for years that I read, write, and edit fanfic. Several months ago, he asked me for writing advice. He has a bunch of letters from his grandfather in WWII, and wants to turn them into a book.

Picture me with a frozen-deer-in-headlights look; I consider fanfic -- at least the way I approach it -- far different from planning a book. Finally I told him to just start writing, like writing a college essay, which he agreed he had experience with, and gave him the old saw about, "You can edit what you've written, but you can't edit a blank page." Then I said I'd ask online and bring back the advice.

I posed the question in a Reddit comm, and got the name of a writing book, which I passed on. Then

sholio offered a couple of good suggestions for connecting with local writers. He was surprised at both additions; I think he expected that my first quick suggestion was all I had. So now it's in his hands, but I still keep my eye out for tips or sources that he might find useful.

A few weeks ago, an answer on Reddit included a link to a post from Writing Advice from a Poorly Drawn Spider. It was very good -- clear, concise, and short enough to not be overwhelming. I thought, "That's exactly what (my acupuncturist) needs!" But, in true StarWatcher fashion, I figured why stop at one post, when there might be other valuable advice?

In short, I went to the archives and checked out each post. They're mostly aimed toward novel-writing, but the advice applies toward most writing efforts. So of course I made a list to give my acupuncturist -- title, link, and a short snip from the post that explains what's inside. And now that the list is made... well, might as well share, right? (I can't help it; I think it's the eldest sister in me. Or maybe the teacher.)

So, behind the cut -- an alphabetical list of titles, with (month/year) in case you want to access through the archive. Below that list, linked titles in random order, with the blurb. I figure if the title looks interesting, you can copy/search to find the linked title.

( This way to the goodies. )

So there it is. I know not everyone here is a writer, but you may know folks who are. If you think any of this is useful to them, feel free to link to this post.

I called the local Extension Agent a couple of weeks ago, and got a bland brush-off. I'm a wee bit (or a lot) ticked, so I just sent an email to the local and the state extension offices. Copy behind the cut, which explains the whole thing.

NOTE: discussion of bird deaths -- dry and matter-of-fact, but avoid if it'll upset you.

( Email inside. )

It would be nice if I got an response of, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention." But realistically, I don't expect anything. But I just had to say something, you know?

In the meantime, I promise I'm being careful. I use a shovel to scoop up the bodies and dump them in an empty feed sack, or disposable gloves if the shovel won't work. Then I remove the gloves according to "contamination" protocol that the school nurse taught us, drop them in the feed sack, then go in and wash my hands.

For the record, I still enjoy living in the country, despite this little issue, and despite the 9 hours I spent replacing heat tape on my water pipes last weekend, because the mice chewed through the new one I installed last November. (That's a story for another day.)

Shopping today. On the list -- small disposable cups (for potting plant cuttings to give away) and Palmolive dish liquid, "Pure and Clear." I use two drops in a couple inches of water to wash my apples. Sounds simple, right? Not so much.

Cups -- every single variety at Walmart included plastic lids!! Yes, I can see that some folks might want or need that. But I didn't want to buy plastic that I would never use before tossing in the trash, and they didn't have even ONE type of disposable cup without lids. Fortunately, I found some at Albertsons.

Palmolive -- there was plenty on the shelves. "Ultra." "Advanced." "Power Degreaser." "Antibacterial." "Original Scent." But not one bottle of "Pure and Clear" at either store. I know that P&C won't affect the taste of my apples; I don't trust the others.

What's really irritating is the constant drumbeat on TV and radio to "buy local" -- especially at this time of the year. I fully support that idea. But I can't do that if they don't carry the items I want!!! Cindy's husband has run into the same problem. He wants bags of potting soil, but all that's available in town is potting mix, which he despises. And several years ago, when I tried to buy plain, workhorse, women's jeans, that was also impossible. I could either buy blinged-out women's jeans, or men's jeans, or order online from Wrangler's. Of course option #3 was the winner. And now both Carl and I are ordering from Amazon, which we'd rather not, but we can't get what we want here.

For heaven's sake, Hobbs isn't that small a town -- 43,000 at last census. But I think most of the problem is the corporations pushing the "more powerful" options and letting the "lesser" types disappear because they can charge more money. (Of course!) But "more powerful" isn't always better. As my dad used to say -- "They take a good thing and improve it till it's worse." That's still true, and becomes even more entrenched as time goes on.

Bah, humbug!

What the title says. Books are 99 cents, but I can't find when the sale ends. The site also warns that some may not be on sale outside the U.S and U.K.

Hmm... at the bottom of the site, there's a countdown clock of 4-1/2 days -- but I'm not sure if that's the book sale or the promotional give-away for winning a free Kindle.

Regardless, if light mysteries with quirky characters are your jam (I think Cozy demands quirky characters), check it out soon.

I always (well, almost always) develop problems that no one has ever encountered before.

So, for the past few weeks, I've been trying to save all the fic for myself. I'm currently going down the list of authors from Cascade Library, trolling archived sites on the Wayback Machine (after checking to see if the author has their stories at AO3 or Squidgeworld).

(Why, you ask? I don't know. I'll never be able to read it all, but my brain won't let me stop. Too much has already disappeared; grab the rest before it does, too.)

So this evening, I was saving fics from Loui, who wrote in several fandoms. The site was very nice, easy to access and save fic... when all of a sudden, the stories started saving in text only. Very weird -- each page opened in neat HTML view, but saved as text. I shrugged and made a Word doc to copy the neat HTML view for each story; I figured there was a glitch in the way it had been archived in the Wayback Machine.

After I finished with that site, I went to a couple of new AO3 fic announcements in my email, opened and saved the first... and IT saved as text only! Um... that's not kosher. So, I updated my computer, then restarted my computer to (hopefully) clear out any glitches.

Tried again. Same result. Actually, I get two saves at once, but that's SOP. The first is the normal AO3 save with automatic_underscored_title. I always copy and paste the name like this: Automatic Underscored Title - 3,2K (for example), then hit save to get a 2nd copy. So #1, the automatic save is in proper HTML. But #2, which I've renamed, is text only, where before it has also been HTML.

<huge, gusty sigh> Okay, I can work around the stories at AO3, and rename the underscored proper HTML copy. But on every other site, I'll be able to get only text copies. That pisses me off, and I want to fix it.

And note -- when this showed up, I had saved half a dozen stories on the page without any issues. Then the next story -- boom! text only -- and all the stories after.

I'm afraid I need to give up and go back to my new computer (which I haven't taken out of the box since it was repaired 10 months ago). I hate to do it -- it's such a hassle to get a new computer set up, transfer all my data, and I don't like the "feel" of that one as much as the comfy workhorse I'm using. *pats it gently*

Does anyone have any suggestions other than update and restart? Seriously, I have never heard of such a thing. I don't even know what search terms I'd use to look for info on how to fix this.

<sighs with frustration> My age is showing. Machines are supposed to work, dammit, and when they don't, there should be an obvious reason, and an obvious way to fix them. Unfortunately, the nearest computer tech lives in Artesia, about 90 minutes away. And I doubt that this will require a simple parts replacement...

If you have any ideas at all, toss 'em my way; maybe something will work.

Thanks.

Haven't seen this before.

I just got a DM from a new account -- made today, no posts -- with a link to a "dating" site. Yeah, right. (It has 'xx' in the URL.)

They probably won't be back -- but I'd like to block them, just in case. Is that possible? Or should I report the account to support? Any info you have would be very helpful.

Watching an item in the local news. Scientists at a local university have discovered that rancid animal fat -- they tried alligator, bear, and pig -- work quite well to keep mosquitos away.

Apparently, this technique goes back at least to the early Native Americans and, when tested, it kept mosquitoes away for 2 hours. ~gag!~ It doesn't smell bad enough, you have to put on more!???

Yeah, no. I seem to be particularly attractive to mosquitoes; even in our current ongoing drought (few mosquito breeding opportunities), I've had one or two mosquito bites at a time all summer. But I don't even like the standard repellents; certainly wouldn't try this.

The scientists say they'll do tests to determine what factor keeps the mosquitoes away, and maybe they can develop a "non-smelly" compound, but it could take a while. That's okay; I'll wait.

Things to see, things to do, things to talk about!

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