I have a very few pairs of earrings. I put in a pair and leave them in for months at a time. I got a wild hair this weekend to change them and could not find my stash. So I did a grid search. This is a small place so I just started in the bathroom and looked in every possible spot and then went to the bedroom, the closet, the living room and the utility room. I skipped the kitchen.

No earrings but I did find:

My slide rule from high school.
My original social security card that I got when I was 14.
My birth certificate.
My passport which expired a few decades ago.

Then I remembered where the earrings were and when right to them in the storage unit. I remembered that I had a better selection than I did but I managed to find a pair and change them out. I'll probably do it all again in 6 months.

Biggie and Julio are still operating on Daylight Savings Time. So breakfast, they believe, should be at 4 am. I held them off til 4:30. It was ok. I needed to get to the pool and get done early. They are doing some work on the lights this morning so the pool will be closed from 6 to 9 so I want to get there early. I did. Fine swim.

My experiment with Alexa and Amazon Music is not going that well. I can't get the system to understand that I never ever ever ever want anything to autoplay. If I want play, I will initiate it. Google, Amazon, Muse and Alexa all tell me to tweak settings that are not there. (And they all suggest different settings.) I want songs sung by Brandy Clark, not written by Brandy Clark. I never ever ever want any jazz. Ever. The whole system makes me want to have my old stereo and stack of 45's. And get off my lawn.

Today is errand day. I need to go to Hobby Lobby and return 3 skeins of yarn I didn't use. I don't love going there but I like it way better than Michaels so ... Then I need to go to the grocery. I have a short list BUT mainly I want to get some mellowcreme pumpkin Halloween candy on sale, I hope. I have packages to pick up later today but I think I'll go ahead and do the other two things this morning.

But I still have a couple of hours before stores open.

Maybe I'll go Instagram for a while. I'm more than a little amused by my feed lately which is old women with style advice. They show you how to put together an outfit. Except, the outfits they put together are not at all attractive. They think they are but they are not. One lady yesterday took a broach - yes a large, ugly, decorative pin - and bunched up the side of her sweater and pinned it with with the broach. "Doesn't that look wonderful?" Er, no. It looks like you have either mirror or eye sight issues.

You can call me Judge Susan.

oursin

‘Never big enough’: inside the booming penis enlargement industry (am somewhat surprised that with all that messing around with NATURE nothing ever does go BOOM....): ‘With very few exceptions, almost none of the partners in the movie wanted them to do this.’ Because it's all about presentation rather than performance?

***

The truth about testicles: are we facing spermageddon? Actual scientist says It's All More Complicated, there's a lot of quack info around testosterone, and a lot of macho body-building is counter-productive for fertility. Also points for citing earlier Manhood Quackery and seeing the resonances.

***

Back to the Georgian era - this appears to be from 2024 but I'm sure I saw this article or very similar circulated recently: The gloves are off, but can bare-knuckle boxing hit the mainstream?

***

The Forty-Year-Old Report that Explains the Cornell Case: Fraternity gang rape is an old problem that we continue to ignore, dismiss, and tolerate. I am old enough to remember seeing the earlier iterations about this issue.

***

Apparently this guy (and presumably those like him)'s get-out is that he wasn't actually touching the women and he buzzed off once they said buzz off, but not before he'd non-consensually filmed them. The Instagram and TikTok harassment loophole leaving London women exposed: 'Content creators are racking up views filming women on the streets of London • The women say it feels like harassment • The police say it’s not illegal • Video platforms are slow to act'

***

Hoorah for a sane voice about No Nut November.

andrewducker

1. Mystery of 60-Second Fluctuations in Power Grids Solved: (tags:time electricity batteries infrastructure viaFanf )
2. The world's best toilets (Norwegian Scenic Routes): (tags:Norway toilets views beautiful )

oursin

Happy birthday,

princess and

radiantfracture!

poliphilo

I've been pretending to myself that I don't have a cold but yesterday it became plain that I do.

Ailz thinks we will have breathed something in on the plane last week and I daresay she's right.

Why, I ask myself, given how advanced a civilisation we are, does international travel have to be so unpleasant in every way.....

One of these days- when we've finally accepted that time and space are illusory- we'll just adjust our frequency to where we want to be and the transfer will be immediate. It's what the smarter ETs do.

The cold may now be getting better now but I cancelled this morning's eye scan at the hospital anyway. I was going to cancel tomorrow morning's appointment at the dentist too but the receptionist said, "Oh, the dentists don't mind colds" so I'll be going ahead with it after all.....

flemmings

Mh, so that was the October that was. Is still red and yellow when the sun shines, but those leaves are not long for this world. Month distinguished by buying a hat, something I've never done, and not wearing it because I also bought a waterproof cap, and caps just fit better. Got my knives sharpened, my boots resoled, and new orthotics. Dentist of course, because dentists we have always with us, also my quarterly blood draw and my six months covid booster. Advance voted in the civic election. Got the lilac cleared out of the basement steps and the cherry pits of decades removed, and the cracks in the concrete pad cemented over, so that at least is done. But NND accomplished much more with a better will. No socialising at all though I keep meaning to call the Young Ladies' mother to arrange a meetup.

NND and extended family and friends had been removing the square terracotta tiles from their front path. Today they took the large irregular paving stones that s-i-l put down in the back yard, cut them into appropriate shapes, and resurfaced the path with them to stunning effect. They also uncovered my water shutoff, the one that should be on my side but isn't, that's been buried for at least six years and probably longer, since I no longer remember what my bro had there instead. That's the most do it yourself family I ever met. When I remarked how beautiful the new path was, Charley at once said, 'We can do yours too if you like.' Well, no, but it's a nice thought, Charley. She gets this helpful streak from her father who then offered to repair the underside of my porch by the light fixture, because it seems a bird has taken up residence there. Though he also harrows my soul by mentioning the mouse nests he found in the garage's foliage, as also SND reporting that Oliver brings them mice and rats(!) that he catches in the garden. Ollie is mostly Jack Russell terrier and terriers gonna terrier. Hopefully Mighty Hunter Ollie will scare the rats away.

shadowkat

Not sure how long I can write on this today? Battling the worst vestibular migraine this weekend that I've had in a while. The previous ones, the anti-nausea bracelets, migraine (motrin) meds, antihistimine, decongestant, and Magnesium Glycinmate seemed to take care of it? But not this one.

Why am I not in bed lying flat with the lights off? Because that makes this thing worse. ( Read more... )
I decided I needed to cry - to get rid of some of the fluid. (I'm concerned - because I have two doctors appointments to get to this week. One an opthamologist appointment, and one a vestibular migraine doctor. At the second one - can potentially help me with this?)

So, I watched the Mathew Perry documentary on Netflix, entitled, "The One with Mathew Perry". I think that's its title. I'm writing this to attempt to distract myself from the dizziness until it passes. It seems to be helping? Weird, I know, but there it is. I don't expect to make sense.

The documentary on Perry reminds me a lot of his memoir - which focused on his addiction and the toxic price of fame (equally addictive). It's what he wanted - he wanted to be remembered for trying to help other addicts, for attempting to help people, and not as Chandler Bing on Friends. It does underline how fame and fortune enable addicts and can destroy them. Perry states at one point - that he remembers praying, "God, you can do whatever you want to me, as long as I'm famous" - only to live to regret it. Fame was fun for a bit, but got old really quickly. And came with a hefty price.
( Read more... )

I feel slightly better now? Talked to my mother for a bit on the phone, which helped. And took a shower - there's a trick to reset the vagus nerve?
You use hot water on the back of the neck and the chest, then quickly switch to cold water - this shocks the nerve into resetting, and helps with the migraine.

I may have to give up all chocolate, caffeine, and cheese. Not sure yet. They don't appear to cause it though? Weather, stress, and sinuses appear to cause it. Could have been the flu/pneumonia shots this round. Don't know. Hopefully the vestibular migraine specialist on Tuesday will help?

Hope things are going better in your world today.

***

Almost forgot - today is the NYC marathon. I pay no attention to it? It doesn't really affect me? But it is right after Halloween this year, usually there's a day in between. It's also the end of Daylight Savings Time, so we all gained an extra hour - not that I noticed? I barely slept.
Usually the end of Daylight Savings Time and the Marathon don't land on the same day? Or do they, and I just never noticed until now?

Question a Day Meme: End of October

29. In the UK, Australia and Canada, it’s RSPB Feed the Birds Day. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was formed by three women who wanted to stop the fashion exploitation of birds for their feathers in 1891. Have you ever put food out for your local birds?

No. Apartment complex - it's not possible? Also I don't feed pigeons.

30. It’s National Candy Corn Day in North America – are you a fan?

No. High Fructose Corn Syrup mixed with artificial coloring and flavors - it makes me ill. I did get a lot of it as a kid though, and through a good portion of the 1990s and early 00s. It's fallen out of fashion for the most part now - most likely because it's all nasty chemical additives?

31. In 1962, the horror film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, based on the novel by Henry Farrell, directed by Robert Aldrich, and starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, was released. Do you like horror films?

Not really? I prefer reading horror to watching it? I did see "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" - which is actually within the category of horror that I actually like? Horror does one thing really well - it delves into the dark vestiges of the human psyche, and examines why people do horrible things, often without meaning to.

[Okay the headache is coming back so must end this.]

Here's another flower...which shouldn't be in bloom? But is. The weather has been funky. So we're having a very late fall. No complaints. I love fall. Even if my sinuses don't.

andrewducker

Meet the newest member of the family. 6kg. Very placid. The children are delighted. Possibly called Cotton, but we need to get to know him before we're sure.
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

muninnhuginn

October 2026

Read:

London Falling by Paul Cornell (K) [reread]
The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell (K)
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes?by Paul Cornell (K)
The Blackhouse by Peter May (K) [reread]
The Lewis Man by Peter May (K) [reread]
A Night in the Lonesone October by Roger Zelazny (K) [reread]

Shorts:

The Last Optician by Ann Calandro
Ragescarf: A Knitting Pattern for a World Unraveling by Amanda Saville
The Ache Before the Wound by Hap Aziz
Scarcely Gone by Marissa Lingen
The Taker by Mari Ness
Waru Waru by Ruth Joffre
PICKLEBLOOD’S SAGA by Kris Schokrowsky

Non-fiction:

Make education boring again by William Davies
What Did Tolkien Really Think about Narnia? by Holly Ordway
The Immortality of Capital by Oli Mould
Fallen Books and Other Subtle Clues in Zelazny’s“A Night in the Lonesome October” by Dr. Christopher S. Kovacs
Can UK pop cut immigration and stop the boats? I suppose we’ll find out with GB News Music Radio by John Harris
The actual sky of Van Gogh’s Starry Night: a multidisciplinary reconstruction by Elijah Jeong-hyun Kim, Suna Kang, Jungwoo Song & Ho Jin
At Aberfan, I saw fathers digging for their missing children. And the lessons society should have learned, it hasn’t by John Humphrys
Scientists Studied 185,896 Miles of Roman Roads—and That’s Still the‘Tip of the Iceberg’ by Gayoung Lee

Watched:

Ion(Cambridge Greek Play 2026) @ The Arts Theatre

Visted:

V&A East Warehouse

oursin

Last week's bread succumbed to mould: made a loaf of Wessex Mill Six-Seed Bread Flour, very nice indeed.

Friday night supper: roasted some Dulce Joya Vine Tomatoes in olive oil with salt and bail then tossed cooked penne in them - rather good.

Saturday breakfast rolls: basic buttermilk with Marriage's Golden Wholegrain Bread Flour, not bad.

Today's lunch: Scottish salmon fillets rubbed with salt, ground black pepper, ginger paste and lime juice and left for an hour or so then baked in foil, served with boiled miniature potatoes tossed in butter and dill, warm green bean and fennel salad, and the rest of the Dulce Joya tomatoes roasted in olive oil with salt and thyme.

susandennis

Well, turns out my very careful, clear, detailed conversation with the cats about daylight savings time was for naught. They were up and attem ready for breakfast at 4. I managed to ignore them for about 30 minutes but finally gave up. So early swim. I set all the clocks but one last night. I forgot the one but when I went to set it this morning, I realized it's the one with a DST button. Just press that sucker and bingo. Clock is correct. Nice.

We had a lovely night out last night. I was the only one who had been to this restaurant before and I had only been there for take out. It's a tiny place and the whole time we were there, there was only one other couple at a table and one guy came in for take out. I sure hope their business was down because of Halloween. The food was superior. We ordered four dishes and there was barely even enough left over to fill the tiny little takeout box they provided. I was quite happy with the dish I always get at takeout and now, when I want take out, I'm going to struggle because the other dishes were just as good. Decisions are so hard.

But at least I have one excellent meal today.

I'm still giving Biggie his tranquilizer only every other day. He's getting into things he's never gotten into before. And, last night, when I opened the door to the hallway, he ran out like he was escaping. It's was funny. Generally, I have to prop the door open to encourage him to wander. Folks on the hall like when he visits. We'll probably do that this afternoon. I'll puzzle and he'll make his rounds.

I'm nearly finished with the vest I started a week or so ago. I need to make the pockets and sew up the sides. I cannot tell yet if I'm going to be happy with it or toss it into the charity barrel. But, I will be glad to have finished a thing.

No other big plans for today.

oursin

Happy birthday,

0jack and

eeyorerin!

andrewducker

1. Mario 64, running in VR, interacting with the player.: (tags:mod games Mario VirtualReality impressive video )
2. A New Antivenom For Snakebites: (tags:snakes technology viaKenny )
3. Comparing AI maths tutoring to human (and to neither): (tags:maths education ai )

poliphilo

I think we we the only people within stone-throwing distance to be welcoming trick-or-treaters last night. I don't dress the house in spooky stuff but I do put a pumpkin outside the front door. I planned to have a lit candle inside the pumpkin but it kept going out.

The kids arrived between five and six o'clock. I don't do a head count but I'm sure there were fewer than last year......

conuly

The only advice I had before I went is that the Daily News wanted us to vote against all the proposals to spite Mamdami, so I trusted that doing the opposite was probably the best course of action. Here's hoping!

shadowkat

[Above picture is of two skeletons talking to each other in front of a house in my neighborhood. One of the streets is very creative when it comes to Halloween displays.]

We're also getting lots of fall color finally in New York City, and flowers. The flowers are still blooming.

( Fall Color )

Flowers..

( Flowers )

It's been a pretty but quiet Saturday for me. While I did get a restorative sleep - 9 hours and 37 minutes, as opposed to the 4 hours and 23 minutes of the previous night - I awoke with a sinus headache from hell aka the vestibular migraine, which I can't seem to completely dislodge. (The photos were taken on yesterday's walk not today's.) The anti-nausea bracelets that I picked up from Wallgreens ages ago (they are out of stock now), are keeping the worst of the vertigo at bay. So I can actually eat, definitely watch television, and walk a little. (Lying down and sleeping makes it worse - and I already slept 9 hours.) Not that far however. I took a brief trip to the local Eastern European and Latin American fruit and vegetable store ostensibly to get paper towels but in reality chocolate, fruit, and veggies, and realized - the headache had not in fact gone away, my balance was still more than a little bit off, and my inner ear ached (it always does with these migraines), and try as I might to dislodge it (with various items at my disposable many of which had worked in the past) my head was still congested and the vestibular headache had not dissipated. Probably an allergy induced migraine, but hey the doctor's disagree. [Oh well, this does justify the visit to the vestibular migraine specialist on Tuesday. I can at least verify that I do in fact get these damnable headaches twice a month ever since February of this year.]

Low-Cost Homeopathic methods that I've discovered which actually work?

Vertigo and/or motion sickness - Anti-nausea bracelets - they put acupressure on the wrists and this staves off the harsh effects of vertigo and motion sickness. No real side-effects, except after a while my right wrist starts to ache a little bit.

Constipation Kiwi - preferably with the skin attached - they really help with constipation and digestion. Also higher in potassium than bananas and much lower glycemic (sugar) index.

***

I went to the grocery store around 3:45, and got home around 4:30, just as the early trick or treaters began to pop up. ( Read more... )

I'm not doing anything outside of watching MCU movies. I'm not even going outside to watch the parade of trick or treaters or downstairs to see the building kids in costume partake of Halloween treats in the lobby. Due to the aforementioned Sinus Headache From Hell. I did run across three French teens sans costume (they are French), trying to do stunts with their scooters on our front stoop - understandable (it's big platform stoop away from foot traffic) but annoying. ( Read more... )

***

Yesterday I got both the flu and the pneumonia vaccines. No, I don't think they brought on the headache. I think it's the shift in weather. But one never knows.

***

In between MCU movies, I've caught up on Vision Quest - which is a lot better if you've seen the MCU movies and Wanda Vision. (Not necessarily Agatha All Along, although Vision Quest tells us what happened to Tommy Maximov, and what powers he developed, while Agatha All Along tells us what happened to Billy and what powers he developed.)

Vision Quest is by far the best of the MCU television series that I've seen to date. ( Read more... )

Recently re-watched Avengers and Age of Ultron back to back. Age of Ultron, sigh, has all of Whedon's ahem characteristic flaws on display. ( Read more... )

Next up in my binge, will most likely be Iron Man 3, closely followed by Captain America: Civil War.

***

I thought the headache had left while writing this, but I moved my head, and no, the vertigo, ear and head congestion, are still annoyingly present. Kind of kicked my plans (such as they were) to the curb - I'd planned to take some long walks today, around Greenwood Cemetery - thought it would be a cool thing to do on Halloween? But alas, no.

It's been a week. Work was difficult this week. And stressful. Less said about it, the better.

Anyhow, off to make dinner.

Here's more innovative Halloween decorations from one of the many side streets. This one kind of went all out? Inclusive of life size skeletons, skeleton baseball players, a monster bush, and alien with flying saucer.

( Halloween Decorations )

andrewducker

Happy Halloween from Alice and The Devil!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

oursin

One of those weeks in which I set out blithely hoping to get certain projects if not actually done, somewhere along the way.

HAH.

Honking great metaphor midweek: set out on what we expected to be a relatively uncomplicated journey, only to find that there was no interchange to the Piccadilly line as anticipated, as a substantial portion of it was closed. There had been no notices or announcements about this, WOT, TfL? and one doesn't normally anticipate this kind of thing in the middle of the week rather than at the weekend. So we had to reconfigure our journey on the hop, not ideal.

Other things were more in the nature of interruptions or distractions, but I had not had on my to-do list contacting our solicitors with a query about ~~mortgages~~ leasehold status of flat (context is downstairs neighbour contacted us as is proposing selling in near future and discovers that mortgage [OOOPS: the leasehold, which impacts on availability of mortgages, duh] should be extended, dares say this also applies to us). (Proputty-proputty-proputty....) Will say our persons of law were very expeditious about getting back on this, even if the one we actually dealt with in the summer was on hols.

This all rather fragmented the time I was hoping to devote to Things.

susandennis

One of the great benefits of buying clothes from Amazon, is having an always accessible database of what size of each item I bought. But, apparently, they have now stopped adding sizes to the data shown for each item ordered and it pisses me the fuck off.

Unless the size is stamped into the piece, the first thing I do with new clothing is cut out any and all labels. They drive me crazy so I just delete them knowing that I can always look it up later if I want. Except now, no. For some stuff. Grrrrrr

Another issue with labels is that they do give you direction. Shirt front or shirt back? But still I hate them. I've taken to keeping a blue sharpie in the closet. I put a blue dot on the underside of the back neck of all my tops. I use the sharpie to write the size and date of first use on the inside of my swim suits. (I put a safety pin on the short side of the fitted sheets.) Now I'm going to have to be more vigilant about making sure the size is preserved.

I just discovered that for some weird reason I now have more clocks that need manual resetting than I have had in years. Way more than are changed automatically. Oh well, good thing I'm retired and have time.

This morning is Elbow Coffee and we might get a decent crowd. Tonight is dinner out - Chinese - with Jan and Dick and Bonny. Should be fun.

oursin

Happy birthday,

mtbc!

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Mark T. B. Carroll

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Mark Carroll's Journal

thoughts and questions

Reading

nooks and crannies

The Urgently Phallic is Phallicly Urgent

Interesting Links for 02-11-2026

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Dealing With A Cold

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A little of everything...

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October 2026

October 2026

Culinary

The day after

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Interesting Links for 01-11-2026

Trick-or-treat

E wanted to get the Halloween Voted sticker

Happy Halloween for those who celebrate...

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So I muttered 'is Mercury in retrograde?' and looking it up, it actually was

Oh Amazon, this is not good

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November 2026

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