Plymouth

26 Aug 2025 12:26 pm
cmcmck: (Default)
[personal profile] cmcmck
We've travelled through Plymouth many a time and changed trains at the station but we've never actually spent time taking a look at the city.

It was well worth the time to do so.

We explored the old seaport area, the Barbican and also the Hoe.

There is one heck of a lot of history to the place.

The Dolphin hotel is a pub with a very fine frontage:


More pics: )

It's International Dog Day!

26 Aug 2025 06:46 am
shirebound: (Default)
[personal profile] shirebound
Grab all the pillows, pampered pups!

20250706_075940
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
This is a repeat of the "deep-space alien horror" SFRPG Hostile from Zozer Games, based on the Cepheus Engine and previously offered in April 2022

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Hostile



Last time I said "My impression is a game that works pretty well if your players can live with corporate betrayal, virtually unkillable monsters, and the other tropes of this side of SF. I'm not entirely sure I want to play in that sort of universe at present, but it's well worth a look and pretty cheap." I don't see any reason to change any of that.

Another bundle for this system is coming soon.

elisi: And a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square (Nightingale)
[personal profile] elisi
Lara Fabian singing 'Je t'aime'. Except it is also the audience singing the song to her. This may be the most beautiful singer/audience connection ever. I have no words.

cmcmck: (Default)
[personal profile] cmcmck
The River Lynher (pronounced liner) in north Cornwall runs through Stara woods.

It's an attractive spot.

As we set out we were amused by the new sign on Farmer Walters' farm next door to Kathy's cottage. Their grandchildren are now at the getting about stage and there are pastures on both sides of the road. Kathy thinks he should add 'cats'.



See more: )
ozma914: Haunted Noble County Indiana (Default)
[personal profile] ozma914

The surgery went well, or so I assume. The bandage doesn't come off until next Wednesday, so in theory there should could be some kind of horror movie eye inserted into the palm of my hand that I won't know about until then. My wrist is itching like crazy, so maybe that's eyelashes blinking.

 

 
Is it the all Seeing hand?

 The meds they had me on can cause thinking like that. I tried to go off the painkiller early, because I'm not a big fan of the heavy duty drugs. That's when I found out just how much this would be hurting if I didn't have the heavy duty drugs, so I'll try weaning myself off in a few more days. Until then my biggest activity has been sleeping, although we did get a chance to catch up on watching Strange New Worlds.

 

 

I got free non skid socks out of the deal. Well, I haven't seen the bill for them yet.

 

 

Yesterday I managed to read an entire writer's Digest magazine, although I skipped the poetry page. It took all my brain power, especially after a dose of Benadryl because of the itching under my bandage. Stop blinking, third eye! But that's been about all I can complain about.

(Actually, Emily read the fine print for the pain med and realize that I am suffering from every single one of the side effects listed, from upset stomach to, yes, back pain--including itching.)

 

Oven warmed blankets!


 We ordered 45 copies of Haunted Noble County Indiana, and as of yesterday sold 40 of them. That's pretty darn good, considering I haven't left the house other than to go to the hospital. That includes those sold by Butterfly Alley Gifts, a shop just up the street from us. It doesn't include Amazon and other online sales; our website is live, but not set up to take orders just yet. 

I waved a copy of the book around while they were wheeling me into the OR, but nobody seemed interested.

 

So as soon as I came out of the mental fog I ordered 50 more copies, and they should be here in a few days. Here's something weird: I also ordered 10 copies each of Storm Squalls and The Notorious Ian Grant. For some reason, they're sending them to me piecemeal: three copies here, five copies there, and twice I got just one copy in a package. It seems like it would have saved a lot of shipping trouble to just send them all at once.

 


Anyway, I'm finding talk to text, or whatever it's called, to be very frustrating. Way too much time spent going back to correct it -- maybe I just need to work on enunciation. Typing one handed is even worse, so for now I'm going to take my special happy pill and call it a day. Thanks to all the well wishers!

 

 

 

You can preorder, order, and generally make contact here:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 


Remember: Pain meds might make you blah blah blah.


sulien: Are you reading fanfic? By reginabellatrix, credit her if you take it. (Reading fanfic)
[personal profile] sulien
The migraines have been kicking my ass of late, but thankfully vertigo does not keep me from reading, so I’ve got a fantastic fic rec to share. If you’ve read the Rivers of London books and enjoyed them, this is definitely something you want to check out. Quasar does an amazing job of writing the issues of time travel the story flows so quickly, it’s easy to lose all track of real time while you’re reading. The story has a warning for graphic depictions of violence, but there is nothing in it worse than anything in the book series, so it should all be good to go. The pairing is Peter Grant/Thomas Nightingale, but there is nothing whatsoever explicit in the story, so I’d rate it as PG-13.

“J’attendrai” by Quasar https://archiveofourown.org/works/4932850


Okay, I think I’ve managed to find all of the typos and any weird wording but please ignore anything remaining, because I’m still not braining particularly well.
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
This is a new offer of four compilation volumes containing 44 issues of Tiny Zine, a magazine for the Tiny D6 system:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TinyZine



One volume has been in a previous offer, the rest are new to these bundles.

At a quick look I think these are good value and well worth considering if you're using the system.

Fic and music

19 Aug 2025 07:04 pm
elisi: Crystal (Crystal)
[personal profile] elisi
I truly am terrible at posting updates. However I have been lost in fic-writing world (a nice place to hide from the horrors), and have actually managed to post something!

Crystal Gets A Boyfriend, Chapter 4: The Living Boy and the Dead Girl

Lalalalala, Dead Boy Detectives still rule my heart. 💜

~

And to keep this post full of nice things, I will add this music video as well. Recently Dimash's younger sister, Raushan, got married, and Dimash (and his brother Mansur) wrote and performed a song for her. This is the official music video, 'When My Swallow Built Her Nest':



It's such a pretty tune, and such a lovely video. <3

And another Bundle - Tiny D6

18 Aug 2025 08:32 pm
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
This is a repeat of a big bundle of material for the TinyD6 system from Gallant Knight Games:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025TinyMega

  

This covers a lot of genres with a minimalist rules set. Last time I said (edited slightly) "This is an interesting offer because it covers such a wide range of genres, but it isn't especially cheap and whether you actually need all of them may be another matter. If you're already using this system and don't need to buy a lot of it, or already have systems you like for some of the genres and don't want to change, it may be a better idea to cherry-pick and just buy the bits you need....  ...a lot of this material was in two bundles offered in September 2020 - Tiny Dungeon, itself a repeat, and TinyD6 Worlds, and if you've already bought either or both you may find a lot of this offer redundant. Again, the best advice I can give is to cherry-pick!

Freeoffice?

18 Aug 2025 01:09 pm
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
Anyone here use Freeoffice for Mac? I need a decent word processor etc. for my Macbook Pro (2015), apparently Libre Office is no longer compatible, and I'd prefer not to get involved in the Microsoft morass. My Windows box is my main platform for word processing etc., and Libre Office is fine on that, I just need something compatible for occasional use on the laptop.

Freeoffice appears to be free, but I'm worried that there might be snags or hidden costs that aren't mentioned on their site. Anyone know anything?

https://www.freeoffice.com/en/


Later - seems OK if a bit limited - no spreadsheet or drawing app - but it'll do for basic word processing.

Later later - I forgot to say that FreeOffice also says 10.15 as the minimum, but unlike LibreOffice it installed and seems to work properly on 10.13.

Give Me a Hand ... For Surgery

17 Aug 2025 02:08 am
ozma914: (ozma914)
[personal profile] ozma914

 Chances are good that I'm about to disappear.

I'm having surgery on my hand, thanks to a non-dangerous affliction called Dupuytren's contracture. This was named after a scientist named Guillotine Dupuytren, and I hope he's happy. I'd give him the middle finger, but it won't bend that way.

Over time, a patient's fingers can bend toward his palm until he--that would be me--can't use them anymore. In my case it's the two middle fingers on the left hand, where tissue under the skin hardens and draws them in.

I know what you're thinking: "Mark, how did you get Kleenex under your skin?"


No, no, it's not facial tissue, I think. It's one of those medical terms, like when they call a person who draws blood a phlebotomist, instead of the obvious title of "blood sucker". A phlebotomist sounds like someone who collects spit. Thank goodness for knowing terminology, because the medical establishment classifies Dupuytren's contracture as a "tumor".

Think of it more like paper towels when they get squeezed together while wet, then dry into a hard mass you can't break with a hammer. My sewer once got blocked that way. Unrelated to my hand.

In the United Kingdom, where many of my ancestors come from, about 20% of men over 65 have, as the drug commercials would put it, D.C. I'm not that old yet, but you gotta start somewhere. My Grandmother had it, and her maiden name was Welch, which is Welsh. But you knew that.

It's often painless, although it's started to hurt me--and hurt way more after the ortho doctor poked and prodded at it for half an hour. There's also the time he tried to ease the pain by sticking a five foot long needle through my hand, but never mind.

Proof: the needle mark 

 
The man ran an iron bar through my palm--to make the pain go away! It did eventually, but I broke my other hand while punching the wall.

It wasn't the pain that worried me: It was the fact that I keyboard for my fulltime job and for my part time job, and now that I'm no longer an active firefighter, I keyboard for the Fire Department. You older people, that means typing. Typing with one hand clenched into a fist would cause issues.

So the doctor's going to put me under, then use a fork and steak knife to dig the tumor/tissue out. Then I won't be able to use my left hand for about two weeks.

You see where I'm going with this.

I once had a boss who had one hand, and he could do just about anything a two-handed person could do, out of necessity. I'm not that kind of person. I've been practicing, and it's no go. I'll have to wear sweatpants and zippered hoodies I can't zip up. Cooking will be even more dangerous than before.

Okay, usually Emily cooks, but as for doing the dishes, we'll have to stock up on paper and plastic. Mowing the lawn will be up to my grandkids. (I actually like mowing, when it's not so humid you have to shoo fish out of the way.) I have to take two weeks off work, which is fine, but everything I do at home involves a keyboard, too.
 


 
"No, you type with your left hand--oh, let's just watch Expedition Unknown."


Which brings me to the internet.

Some would say I spend too much time on the internet, and they'd be right. I submit that some of that time is necessary, both to keep up with friends and family and to promote my writing. I also submit that I can't type well one handed. I'll try some speech to text writing, but based on experience with my phone, I'd have to type that much more to correct mistakes.

So I declare late August to be a vacation from the internet, and if you see a long piece of writing from me it was probably prescheduled. Once the pain and pain meds have subsided enough for me to think straight, I want to catch up on my reading.

But what I'll probably do is watch TV.


Just because I'm not around doesn't mean you can't find our books--including the newest, Haunted Noble County, Indiana:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

·        Audible:  https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

 

Remember: You only need one hand to turn the pages.


I hate this timeline

17 Aug 2025 09:41 pm
elisi: Living in interesting times is not worth it (memes will save us)
[personal profile] elisi
“This is our last hope”: Bisan Owda issues urgent call on x to stop occupation of Gaza city

kazzy_cee: (Default)
[personal profile] kazzy_cee
On Friday, Mr Cee took the day off, and we headed to the V&A in London to see their Cartier Exhibition.  The exhibition has been sold out for weeks (and it doesn't finish until November!), but as I have a Membership card (for me plus a guest), we could just walk in to see it without booking (the Membership is really worth it!).

This is how the curators Helen Molesworth and Rachel Garrahan describe the exhibition:

"Cartier is one of the most famous jewellery houses in the world. This exhibition explores how Louis, Pierre and Jacques Cartier, together with their father Alfred, adopted a strategy of original design, exceptional craftsmanship and international expansion that transformed the Parisian family jeweller into a household name."

Established in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, the business expanded once his grandsons joined the firm, and by 1909 they had expanded their branches to Paris, London and New York.

It's a large exhibition (more than 350 items of jewellery, clocks and watches) and they have divided it into sections covering the influences in design, and custom works for patrons of Cartier, the jewellers. Under the cut for lots of sparkly things that caught my eye (there are quite a few)!

Read more... )

We spent a couple of hours at the exhibition, and I'm tempted to go back again as it's a bit overwhelming to see so much bling!
kazzy_cee: (Default)
[personal profile] kazzy_cee
Yesterday I braved the 30º/86ºF heat in London to meet up with Youngest Cee's fiancée's mum, L in Hoxton in East London. We went to The Museum of the Home (formerly known as The Geffrye Museum). The museum is situated in a 18th-century former almshouses built on the site in 1714. They were built at the bequest of Sir Robert Geffrye to house the widows of ironmongers - up to 56 pensioners were given homes in the almshouses and had access to a chapel and a garden.

Sir Robert Geffrye was a merchant and trader in tobacco, which means he had part ownership of a slave ship, and his fortune was largely built on the Atlantic slave trade. Rather than remove all references to him, the museum has explained his history very sensitively for today's visitors without trivialising the links.  He has no connection to the museum, only to the former almshouses.

I have visited the museum a couple of times before, but in 2018, they closed it completely to refurbish it, so I was interested to see how different it was.  I was pleasantly surprised as they have looked more deeply into the meaning of 'home' and how different aspects change how we decorate and furnish our living spaces.

The exterior of the former almshouses is still very impressive (not my photo):
Museum of the Home.jpeg
Some more photos under this cut:
Read more... )

We found a very nice place to have a healthy lunch (and a glass of wine!) and spent a couple of hours chatting about all kinds of things, which was lovely!.  It was a good outing.
ffutures: (Default)
[personal profile] ffutures
Two repeat bundles for Girl Genius comics, which are RPG-adjacent due to the existence of GURPS Girl Genius and the long association of the authors with the RPG industry.

GIRL GENIUS 1 (previously offered Oct 2020)
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Genius

GIRL GENIUS 2 (May 2023)
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2ndGenius2025

  

This is pretty much a no brainer, as I've said before. It's great value and a fantastic read. But I should probably point out that if you've previously bought either bundle no new material is added.

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