[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jonathan Yerushalmy

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

The Trump administration’s communications licensing tsar fired a warning shot over the US broadcasting industry Saturday, threatening to cancel the spectrum permits of broadcasters pushing what he termed “hoaxes and news distortions”.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr posted on social media that broadcasters running “fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up. The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”

Continue reading...

So it was worse than we thought

Mar. 14th, 2026 11:11 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
Not only did three dozen shingles go flying, the top vent of the garage went bye bye too leaving a hole in the garage's roof. Luckily the roofer's been here already got half of it finished. Will finish tomorrow. I also head back home tomorrow. I wonder if any of my apartment is even there after all this weather (tornados were in my area)

Went to see my aunt and collected another of my grandparents' things from the house (while I can). I didn't know this old Bavarian cuckoo clock was one of my grandfather's prized possessions until today. The cuckoo no longer works (thankfully) but it's a pretty clock with some damage besides that. Those weights for it are so heavy you could brain someone with them.

Went to my brother's and his wife, played with the cats, drank some rye. It was nice.

Wow finally watching an Inspector George Gently mystery where I don't want Bacchus dead. It's S4E1, its taken him four seasons to not say something misogynistic, racist or homophobic. eye rolls.

I also sent in two stories to different places, the latter of which [personal profile] evil_little_dog and [personal profile] justphoenix were huge helps with. Thank you very much. It's very appreciated.

So I was looking around for today's mention for Women's History and I remembered picking up my non-major biology book and seeing Rosalind Franklin in regards to DNA and thinking WTH is this? The answer is another woman written out of her discoveries for years and along with her there's Marthe Gautier someone I had not heard of until today but did most of the work to illuminate the genetic component to Down's syndrome, and another woman with stolen research. And while I'm mentioning Rosalind, want to know when I found out there was an university named for her, yeah today.


Dr Rosalind Franklin

Dr Marthe Gautier


And have some links for Science Saturday

ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial on knowledge retention

1,900-year-old double Scythian burial in Ukraine contains toxic red mineral

'Blackwater' lakes and rivers in the Congo Basin are now emitting ancient carbon into the atmosphere

'Interstellar messenger' 3I/ATLAS could be nearly as old as the universe itself, James Webb telescope observations reveal

2,000-year-old Phoenician coin was used as bus fare in England, but 'how it got there will always be a mystery'

'More advanced' farming women married hunter-gatherer men in Europe thousands of years ago, ancient DNA reveals

Scientists tracked faint signals from the stars — and may have turned up hundreds of undiscovered planets

Could gut microbes hold the secret to aging well? A researcher unpacks the emerging science If you haven't looked at all the gut microbe articles coming out, you should. It's fascinating
flareonfury: (Crossover)
[personal profile] flareonfury posting in [site community profile] dw_community_promo





[community profile] galorechallenge is a returning Crossover Fic Challenge from LiveJournal where you would find a crossover, grab a prompt & start writing! NO CLAIMING NESSARY! Post your story to the community (or at least link to it) once you're done. Feel free to grab more than one prompt, and more than one crossover! There are no limits on how much you can write per round. Check out the rules for more information.
Also once the round ends, we'll vote on our favorites by fandom & you can get a fancy award. Or if there is only 1 crossover for a particular fandom, it will move on to the next round.
While it is a multi-fandom challenge, and SO MANY fandoms are allowed, there are some restrictions, so check out the fandoms currently allowed.
Round 14 is open until June 30, 2026 @ 11:59 EST.

Rules & FAQ | Prompts | Submit New Prompts/Crossovers |
[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jonathan Yerushalmy

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

Russia is supplying Iran with Shahed drones to use against the US and Israel, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN in an interview excerpt aired on Saturday.

Zelenskyy told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that it is “100% facts” that Iran has used Russian-made Shaheds to attack US bases.

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10trueloves: accident

Mar. 14th, 2026 10:07 pm
senmut: All five Justice League members standing in a circle (Comics: JLA YO)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Sound of Crashing (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DC Comics (General)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lian Harper & Dinah Lance
Characters: Dinah Lance, Lian Harper
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Slice of Life, +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis
Summary:

Dinah is babysitting...



Sound of Crashing

The moment she heard the crash, Dinah was on her feet and moving, uncaring what had been broken as long as it wasn't that little girl who had stolen her heart. She skidded into the kitchen before Lian had made her escape from the counter, the drawers askew to let Dinah know how the girl had gotten up there on it. She was beside the refrigerator, from which the ceramic cookie jar in the shape of a coyote had tumbled to the floor.

The cookie jar was not salvageable. Lian's face was a picture of contriteness, and Dinah just moved to get her down.

"You sit on right here, Dart," Dinah said, depositing her on the kitchen table which was at least lower than the counter. "Until I get the pieces swept up, the floor is lava and you don't have firefighter boots!"

"Didn't mean to break Mąʼii."

"I know, sweetie. And you did a lot of problem solving to figure out how to get it while I was on the phone. But next time, you should ask, and I can help." Dinah found the broom and a bucket, picking up the larger pieces before sweeping up the rest of the debris. She's need to get a box or a large jug to put the shards in, but for now, she just wanted it off the floor.

"Okay, so I need to find a new cookie jar, and we're going to need new cookies," Dinah said. "Ready to go shopping?"

"Yes!"

Dinah reached for the girl, picking her up and settling her on a hip, even if Lian was a little big for that, especially for her shortness. She hugged Lian tight, glad nothing had been hurt on her.

"You do have to tell your daddy you're sorry."

"Will do!"

[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jonathan Yerushalmy

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries are “almost unhinged” the UAE’s minister for international cooperation Reem Al Hashimy has told Australia’s ABC news.

Iran has fired over 1,800 missiles and drones at the Emirates, more than any other country targeted by Tehran in the conflict, upending its aura of tranquillity despite its air defence intercepting a vast majority of the projectiles.

We’ve borne the brunt of most of the missiles and drone attacks, and it’s really quite surprising for us that Iran has taken such an irrational path to fight the Gulf states and act in this quite unlawful, quite unacceptable manner.”

Continue reading...

(no subject)

Mar. 14th, 2026 06:55 pm
shadowkat: (Default)
[personal profile] shadowkat
Hello, it's been a nice and quiet Saturday. Temperatures in the mid to high forties and low fifties. Jacket and sweatshirt weather. Wore sweats for most of the day. Niece sent me a University of Montana sweatshirt for my birthday. I had bought myself the HOKA training/walking shoes (although not from the link provided) rec'd by the PT. Which I wore yesterday and took a twenty minute walk around the block and to MetFresh today. (I know I should probably order groceries? But I find I buy less and I'm more frugal if I go to the grocery store - plus exercise, since I don't own or drive a car and walk everywhere, well outside of using the subway.)

Also clear blue sky with a scant trace of cloud cover. But alas no flowers or greenery anywhere, unlike I'd found, albeit briefly, in Battery Park earlier in the week. (Green grass, and one bush. Spring! I thought. But alas, no, still winter.) So, aching for flowers and greenery - I purchased more cut flowers from the grocery store. Red Roses, and a bunch of purple and reddish purple flowers that I do not know the names of - one's a purple globe, the others look like various versions of purple and red baby's breath. I'd buy an actual plant - but I have a dreadful black thumb and kill them. The green thumb skipped me and landed on my brother. I have a black thumb. I can kill a cactus. And fake plants - I associate with dust.

**

I did a few walks earlier in the week - when it was still warm outside, before we slid kicking and screaming back into winter. The first was up the pier to check out the cherry blossom festival (or the fake cherry blossom festival) on Pier 15. (It only it actually looked like that? It doesn't. Ah, the wonders of photo-shop and AI.) The second was around Battery City Park - the grass was actually green with flowers, purple flowers sprouting from a patch in the middle of it - helped no doubt by the fact that it was sealed off from people and dogs - and only geese, birds, insects and squirrels could frolic in the enclosure. People and dogs can do a lot of damage. Want to grow grass? Keep dogs and people away from it.



I also saw a green bush. And I thought - ah spring. Then it was in the thirties and forties the next day, and felt like 29 degrees, and I thought, no, still winter. Dang it.



The bush has green buds on it - but you have to enlarge the picture to see it. Also we now have an open pier that you can walk along to see the Statue of Liberty. When the Tall Boats Conference happens in July - that entire walkway should be open - so people can walk along and look at boats in the New York harbor.

The second walk was admittedly more productive than the first. I got stopped along the way by a Statue of Liberty Ticket Ferry scammer who was attempting to tell me that I was going the wrong way to the Statue of Liberty Ferry. I ignored him.

**

Mother interrupted this entry with a phone call - to regale me with news from my brother. I rarely talk to him myself - and honestly, don't need to, she tells me everything he's doing, his daughter is doing, and his wife doing - his friends are doing - and various and sundry family members whether I want this information or not. (Well in snatches, she doesn't remember half of it - and it's the stuff that I'm usually curious about that she doesn't remember, while the stuff I was happier not knowing - she does).
discussions with mother )

***

Television

* Scarpetta This is the series starring Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Simon Baker, and Bobbie Carnvale (along with his son) adapted from the Patricia Cornwall - Kay Scarpetta mysteries - which I read in the 1990s and early 00s, and now have only vague memories of. I honestly don't remember them at all, just the characters names, and vaguely their relationships with each other? I don't remember the FBI agent, or the sister, just the cop Marino and Kay. That means, I can be fairly open-minded about the series, and won't be comparing it to the books at all. And I didn't. I honestly can't remember much if anything at all about the books - and I read most of them.

Patricia Cornwall served as a consultant on the series, and it has a woman showrunner and director.

I want to like it? But there's something off about it? It's really kind of busy and noisy? I think I want to calm it down a little or cut some of it out? Read more... )

It's gotten mixed reviews? The professional critics seem to like it, but the audience really doesn't.

* Grantchester - this is on Netflix and PBS Passport. I like it better than Scarpetta. It's a historical mystery series featuring a young jazz loving Vicar who solves murder mysteries in his parish with a local homicide detective during the 1950s. The Vicar is a former solider who served in the WWII and is struggling to get past it.

* The Pitt - still enjoying this, although it seems a bit subdued from last year, not sure why. I think the characters are a little less on edge - or the characters that are on edge, aren't the principal characters so it's less apparent? Not sure. It's not a bad thing, just a tonal shift.

* Count of Monte Cristo - almost done. It's subdued as well, and very understated. I'm hesistant to rec too heavily? I'm enjoying it - because I kind of want understated and restrained and subdued at the moment. I'm appreciating it. I don't why. Maybe I'm tired of the noise that seems to surround me constantly? All the ads, all the marketing, all the noise...I want subdued?

This may explain why Scarpetta isn't working for me, but the Pitt, Grantchester, and Monte Cristo are? I'm apparently in the mood for a more realistic touch and a less frenetic high gloss one?

Off to bed.
anghraine: uhura confidently sits at the weapons panel while kirk remains tensely in the captain's chair, both bathed in the red lighting of "balance of terror"; text: "you're the only one who can do it" (from "mirror mirror") (kirk and uhura [bridge])
[personal profile] anghraine
Incidentally, my best friend J happened across a copy of the famous novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and gave it to me for Christmas last year. We have been doing dramatic readings of the chapters to each other, complete with air quotes and loudly emphasizing the many, many, many unnecessarily quoted or italicized words/phrases/paragraphs. Although it was fun in its own unhinged way, it was also kind of shocking to realize just how terrible Roddenberry's... like, everything was without being able to lean on good writing/editorial staff like Sturgeon and Fontana, figures like Gene L. Coon to temper his worst impulses, the visual brilliance of people like Jerry Finnerman and William Ware Theiss, and the warmth and charisma brought to even much of the weaker writing by superb theatrical actors like Nichols, Shatner, and Nimoy. For all the novelization's extreme sleaziness, it is one of the coldest and most inhuman-feeling published novels I've ever encountered.

The attempts to salvage the footnote are largely nonsense, IMO—like, yes, it does accidentally imply that Kirk is just a bisexual who rather prefers women rather than a totally super manly straight guy, and his description of Spock and their super special eternal psychic bond does sound incredibly gay, but this is clearly because Roddenberry was constitutionally incapable of writing about any relationships in a non-horny way and loathed women. He was definitely going for desperately recuperating Kirk as the hypermasculine hyper-heterosexual seasoned middle-aged commanding captain figure with a weakness for women but also distaste for them that he'd always envisioned for his ideal of "the captain" (it's all over his writing of April and then Pike), and his resentment of what TOS Kirk actually became in the show is extremely visible (his Kirk dismisses TOS Kirk as a twee fictionalized version he actually hates and TOS in general as terrible and fake, unlike the real story in the novelization, etc). Like, it's 100% an attempt at no-homo and gender essentialism, he's just very bad at no-homo and also at writing people.

But the thing is, the footnote (and the other material straining to find a heterosexual explanation for TOS) may be - and is - homophobic, but this is actually the least of the novelization's problems. It is even more misogynistic, racist, incredibly petty, and so incredibly awkward that I was starting to think "justice for the OG Mary Sue writers, they were far better than this and honestly seem to have understood Star Trek itself rather better," given the weird 70s dystopia aspects he's got going.

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Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange

Mar. 14th, 2026 09:07 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Yesterday I discovered the Seed Library Network. I was delighted to find one near me.

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

Read more... )
[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jonathan Yerushalmy

US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

The US State Department has ordered “non-emergency US government employees” and the family members of US government employees to leave Oman, citing “safety risks” in the country.

It did so on Friday, according to a update published by the US Embassy in Oman.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Guardian staff and agencies

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia targeted energy infrastructure near Kyiv but residential buildings and schools also hit. What we know on day 1,481

Russia hammered Ukraine with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing six people and inflicting damage across several regions of the country, Ukrainian officials said. Five of those killed were in the Kyiv region outside the capital, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces targeted energy infrastructure but also damaged residential buildings, schools and businesses. Fifteen people were injured.

The Ukrainian president said the Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions were also targeted in an attack that included about 430 drones and 68 missiles, most of which were downed by air defences. “The main target for the Russians was the energy infrastructure of the Kyiv region, but unfortunately, there were also direct hits on and damage to ordinary residential buildings, schools, and civilian businesses,” Zelenskyy said.

A Russian strike later in the afternoon on a residential area in the Zaporizhzhia suburbs killed one and wounded 18, including two children, the local administration said. Reuters footage showed emergency crews at work amid piles of rubble and twisted metal. Windows and frames on balconies were smashed.

Russia’s winter attacks on Ukraine have left swathes of major cities without power or heating, part of a campaign to weaken resolve as Moscow’s troops press a battlefield offensive and demand Kyiv cede more territory in the east. Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Saturday that people in six regions were without electricity after the overnight strikes and Russian shelling of frontline areas.

Saturday’s attack also prompted Nato member Poland to scramble jets to protect its airspace, but no violations were observed, Warsaw’s military said. In Moldova, on Ukraine’s western border, the foreign ministry denounced what it said was an intrusion by a Russian drone into its airspace in a border district, saying Moscow’s actions undermined regional security and posed a danger to its citizens.

Zelenskyy repeated his call for Kyiv’s partners to boost production of air defence weapons, stocks of which have been diminishing as the US and its allies in the Gulf, fending off Iranian strikes. The UK’s prime minister Keir Starmer may send thousands of interceptor drones to the Middle East, the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Military officials are examining whether the “Octopus” interceptor anti-drone drone system, which is manufactured in the UK for Ukraine to use against Russia, can also be used to bolster British defences against Iran’s Shahed drones, the report said.

Russian air defence units downed 65 Ukrainian drones headed for Moscow throughout the day on Saturday, the city’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said. Sobyanin, writing on Telegram, said the drones were intercepted over an 11-hour period beginning around noon. Crews were examining the fragments at the sites where they fell. The governor of the Bryansk region on the Ukrainian border, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Telegram that units in his region had downed 128 drones. He gave no time frame.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Guardian staff and agencies

In comments to NBC News, US presidents also deflates hope of deal with Tehran, saying ‘terms aren’t good enough’

Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States may carry out more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub “just for fun”, saying that while Tehran appears ready to make a deal to end the conflict, “the terms aren’t good enough yet”.

He said the US strikes had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island, telling NBC News that “we may hit it a few more times just for fun.”

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jason Burke in Jerusalem

US president calls on China, France, Japan and the UK to send vessels after US strikes Kharg Island oil facilities

Iran threatened on Saturday to further escalate the war raging in the Middle East by targeting any facility in the region with US ties, after Donald Trump predicted “many countries” would send warships to support a US bid to reopen by force the strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway closed to virtually all maritime traffic by Tehran since the beginning of the war.

Iran has responded to the joint US-Israeli offensive, which is entering its third week, with daily attacks on oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, as well as against Israel.

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our house. in the middle of our creek

Mar. 14th, 2026 09:05 pm
the_siobhan: (Dufferin station)
[personal profile] the_siobhan
Last week the temperature here went up to 18 degrees. All the snow melted. Then the next day it rained heavily, pretty much the whole day. Then the next day it snowed.

I looked out the back window at one point and realized the drainage ditch was completely full of water. Like an inch from overflowing. The opening to the pipe from the sump pump was completely submerged. Now that the snow has melted I can open my back door again so I went to have a look, and the walls I had built up with broken concrete had collapsed and there had been several clay landslides into the ditch.

I should have expected that really. Lesson learned. I have some pea gravel I had intended to dump on the top, now I realize I should have been using it to fill in the gaps between the larger rocks, both to give them support and to try to keep the silt from settling in the cracks. When the soil is dryer I'll dig it out and re-do it properly. Fortunately Facething Marketplace has tons of people giving away left over rocks from their landscaping projects because I'm mostly out.

On the plus side, the drainage ditch did operate entirely as intended in that there was no flooding of the rest of the yard. The basement stayed bone dry and the pump didn't get any backwash.

***

Saw a rat back behind the shed while I was out there. I kind of figure rats are like the coyotes, they're always there, just sometimes we also see them.

Still. He was a big fucker.

***

Left the house today to go to a seed swap that was happening a couple of blocks away. Didn't swap any seeds but I did have a lovely conversation with a man from a local group that runs workshops on things like pollinator gardens and composting. There were also some people there from the Anishnawbe food & medicine garden.

I remember walking past a storefront on my way to the gf's place last week and passing what used to be a big art supply store. It's been divided in half, part of it is now a medspa and the other half is a thrift store.

That kind of encapsulates the current state of the neighbourhood perfectly, we have condos and gentrification and chic designer stores. But we also have the Community Centre with the needle exchange program and the lawyers who will give you advice about your immigration case or your lawsuit against your landlord. The slumlords who own the highrise behind me lost an attempt to shut down a food bank that was started in a couple of empty units by the tenants. There are signs on every light pole supporting the latest rent strike against yet another slum lord.

There's also a goth/industrial club right at the end of my street, and do you think I've managed to drop in there even once? No I have not. Maybe when it warms up and the wastewater numbers are less dire. I know about a half-dozen DJs who hold nights there, so I should get one of those straw holder thingys you can fix to your mask.

Actually, now that I think about it, that would be a good idea for the days I have to go into the office and it's too cold to eat outside.

erinptah: nebula (space)
[personal profile] erinptah

Finally got around to reading the What If…? book that has Moon Knight in it.

It’s good!

Age of MoonKnight over on Tumblr did a chapter-by-chapter liveblog, which I enjoyed. Check that out if you want a more beat-by-beat coverage of the plot (and lots of quotes). This is more of an overall post-game reflection.

Some short, spoiler-free reactions:

  • Based on the title, I expected “a canon-divergence AU where Marc meets Venom instead of Khonshu.” Instead, it starts in a universe that’s pretty close to 616, Khonshu and all. That gets crashed by an AU Marc who did get Venom’d…but it’s not a long-term divergence for him either, it basically happened that day. So, not the story I expected to see, but it’s good at being the story it wanted to tell
  • Jake and Steven get a very satisfying amount of page time. Haven’t counted, but I bet there’s a similar amount of chapters for all 4 POV characters (Local Marc, Import Steven, Import Jake, and Venom)
  • There are lots of fun deep-cut references to all kinds of random comics stuff. You can tell the author had a good time finding things to add in, and asking their MK-fan friends for suggestions
  • The author has good takes on Marlene! It’s one of their breakup eras, she helps out when the plot demands it and clearly still loves them, but she’s sticking to her boundaries and Marc is wistfully respectful about it
  • There’s an ongoing plot through all the What If…? books, which I mostly wasn’t interested in. Very authentic to the experience of “reading a Moon Knight tie-in with a Comics Event”

Longer, full-of-spoilers analysis and reaction follows.
 

 

 


Wildlife

Mar. 14th, 2026 08:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scared of spiders? Scientists say the real nightmare is losing them

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

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



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

Read more... )

Creative Jam

Mar. 14th, 2026 08:04 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The March [community profile] crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Opportunity."


What I Have Written




From My Prompts


[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Callum Jones (now); Marina Dunbar , Taz Ali, Emily Mackay and Rebecca Ratcliffe (earlier)

The US president said he did not want to make a deal with Iran yet, while claiming that he might hit Kharg Island again ‘just for fun’

Iranian media has reported there is no damage to its oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, following US attacks that Trump claimed had “obliterated” military targets on the Island.

Iran’s armed forces have threatened to destroy US-linked oil infrastructure if its own energy facilities are hit. Kharg Island serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments.

Continue reading...
[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Ewan Murray at Sawgrass

  • World No 1 sitting outside the top 20 with one round to go

  • Åberg takes three-shot lead into final 18 holes at Sawgrass

There is a robotic element to Scottie Scheffler during periods of success but observing the world No 1 in times of adversity is far more intriguing. There is more – much more – to the American than meets the eye.

This is a golfer who was once reduced to tears after a Ryder Cup trouncing. While all charges were eventually dropped, the mere fact Scheffler found himself in a prison jumpsuit before a round at the 2024 US PGA was highly unusual. Last summer, he was filmed in long and histrionic discussion with his coach amid struggles at the US Open.

Continue reading...

Creative Jam

Mar. 14th, 2026 07:23 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (Crowdfunding butterfly ship)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] crowdfunding
Welcome to the 152nd Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, March 14-Sunday, March 15. The theme is "Opportunity."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Callum Jones (now); Marina Dunbar , Taz Ali, Emily Mackay and Rebecca Ratcliffe (earlier)

Warning for US citizens follows missile attack on US embassy, as Trump says US will coordinate with nations to protect oil tankers

Iranian media has reported there is no damage to its oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, following US attacks that Trump claimed had “obliterated” military targets on the Island.

Iran’s armed forces have threatened to destroy US-linked oil infrastructure if its own energy facilities are hit. Kharg Island serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Guardian staff and agencies

In comments to NBC News, US presidents also deflates hope of deal with Tehran, saying ‘terms aren’t good enough’

Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States may carry out more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub “just for fun”, saying that while Tehran appears ready to make a deal to end the conflict, “the terms aren’t good enough yet”.

He said the US strikes had “totally demolished” most of Kharg Island, telling NBC News that “we may hit it a few more times just for fun.”

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Ewan Murray at Sawgrass

  • World No 1 sitting outside the top 20 with one round to go

  • Åberg takes three-shot lead into final 18 holes at Sawgrass

There is a robotic element to Scottie Scheffler during periods of success that observing the world No 1 in times of adversity is far more intriguing. There is more – much more – to the American than meets the eye.

This is a golfer who was once reduced to tears after a Ryder Cup trouncing. While all charges were eventually dropped, the mere fact Scheffler found himself in a prison jumpsuit before a round at the 2024 US PGA was highly unusual. Last summer, he was filmed in long and histrionic discussion with his coach amid struggles at the US Open.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jason Burke in Jerusalem

US president calls on China, France, Japan and the UK to send vessels after US strikes Kharg Island oil facilities

Iran threatened on Saturday to further escalate the war raging in the Middle East by targeting any facility in the region with US ties, after Donald Trump predicted “many countries” would send warships to support a US bid to reopen by force the strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway closed to virtually all maritime traffic by Tehran since the beginning of the war.

Iran has responded to the joint US-Israeli offensive, which is entering its third week, with daily attacks on oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, as well as against Israel.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Josh Taylor Technology reporter

As users turn to VPNs to access sexual content, experts warn collection of information creates a ‘honeytrap’ for bad actors

When porn sites began blocking Australians from access, it also meant X began age-checking users before they could look at adult content on the social media site.

But it asked some users to send a video selfie every time they wanted to look at a single picture or video.

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Ariel Bogle

The Australian terrorist’s propaganda continues to surface in other offenders’ cases, and Muslim leaders say more needs to be done locally to confront Islamophobia

When he was 14, a boy in South Australia downloaded more than a dozen videos of the terrorist attack committed by an Australian man on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 15 March 2019.

He was sentenced in 2025 for possessing documents with information for terrorist acts and extremist material, according to the magistrate’s remarks, which included having the shooter’s manifesto on his devices.

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A bunch of tennis fiction I guess

Mar. 15th, 2026 11:14 am
thawrecka: (Default)
[personal profile] thawrecka
TV: My Prince of Tennis anime marathon continues apace. Good news: Tezuka vs Atobe is just as good as I remember! The look on Atobe's face when he realises Tezuka has accepted his challenge! Oishi asking Tezuka if he's sure! Atobe getting what he wants, but no longer wanting it! Atobe wishing the game would go on forever! When the crowd stops cheering and just looks on in shock for that endless tiebreak! The arm raise at the end! Honestly, magnificent. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when Atobe finally won, even though I knew it was coming, it was that tense.

The Inui/Kaidoh doubles arc is also just as homoerotic as I remembered. Hunting down the place where Kaidoh trains shirtless, asking him to play doubles against a vibrant sunset, the whole 'let's mutually use each other' thing... What a good pairing. I 100% believe they hooked up between tennis practises....

Kawamura's hyper macho tennissona is so funny to me. Also, I just got to Fuji asking to use his bloody tennis racket and, wow, instantly remembered how hard I shipped that pairing back in the day. There should have been more fic about them!!!

I feel like Tezuka/Oishi is also an underrated ship; people don't do enough with that dynamic early on where Oishi is taking Tezuka to his doctor's appointments and acting like his worried wife. On the other hand, people have done much with how shippy the Golden Pair are after they break up in the arc where Inui gets back on the team, and they were right to, this bit of tension is the most shippy Oishi and Eiji have ever been, and from what I remember they get even shippier later.

I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to the (anime only) Josei Shonan arc, which was sooooooooo boring. All the characters on the opposing team have wacky hair to disguise that they don't have interesting personalities. I felt very [I have no memory of this place] so I assume I straight up skipped this arc the first time around. In theory the Inui & Momo doubles match should have been interesting, but it mostly underlined for me that they both have better chemistry with Kaidoh. It's not like I can say the storyline the manga did instead at this point was better, because I also don't remember that 🤣 The Rokkaku arc is fine, but the most striking image is the super long racket. Echizen is adorable in this arc, though.

I'm about to start the Rikkai games. The last bunch of episodes have been very Momo/Kaidoh shippy. Rescuing the kitty together ❤️

I kind of want to write Prince of Tennis fic again... in 2026... but I have genfic ideas. Where Ryoma is aroace but doesn't care because he only identifies as a tennis player. And then I guess I'd have to write a lot of tennis?

Watched two movies yesterday:

The 2006 Prince of Tennis live action movie, which is so much worse than I remembered. It's not good as an adaptation and it's not good as a film in its own right! No narrative focus! A lot of bad acting! Ryuuzaki is young and hot for some reason! They try to jam in too much stuff and too many characters and everything feels thin and underwhelming! The upside is I think Fuji is perfect in it in his approx five seconds of screen time, and the weird side is Ryoma and Tezuka are so much shippier here than I think they've been in any other version of the canon.

Challengers: the sad story of a woman who can't marry tennis, so she has to put up with men.

Could have used more tennis, though I found the tennis ball POV shots kind of funny. I mostly got the impression that Tashi found Art nice and convenient and she was attracted to Patrick but didn't want to be in a relationship with him, but she was really in love with tennis. I didn't find Zendaya convincing as a tennis player, but she is convincing as the hot woman two dudes fight over, so that was fine. The homoerotic tension was there, but by the end I think I found it the least interesting part? At the beginning I didn't like Tashi, but by the end I found her the only likeable character, weirdly enough; I think it might be because she was the best characterised of them all, and had more depth to her longings.

The ending felt great, which I think is because it gave me the impression the men were finally as in love with tennis as Tashi was. I can see why people want a threesome at the end of that film, but I mostly felt like none of those people should bone. Much like with the peach fucker film I feel that Luca Guadagnino's aesthetic sensibility and mine don't mesh very well; the film wasn't pretty enough to my tastes, but obviously worked well for other people.

Touching Base (part 1 of 1, complete)

Mar. 14th, 2026 08:11 pm
dialecticdreamer: My work (Default)
[personal profile] dialecticdreamer
Touching Base
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1236
[Evening of Thursday, 2 November of 2017]



:: Jules can’t sleep, thinking of the approaching plane trip which will bring him, finally, home ot Mercedes and his family. He calls a friend with a thin excuse. Part of the “Lodestar” arc, set in the Polychrome Heroics universe. ::




Somewhere in the maze of hostel rooms, someone was playing an out of tune guitar in desultory, awkward scales. Jules glared at the bedside alarm clock and sighed. It wasn’t yet nine at night, and it wasn’t the stranger’s fault that he had to be at the boarding gate at three in the morning to catch a four a.m. flight.

Squirming restlessly on the luxurious single occupancy room with ensuite, Jules couldn’t keep his eyes shut for more than a few heartbeats at a time. When he sat up, he automatically reached for his phone to scroll slowly through his contacts. He checked the local time, then dialed.
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A drabble I wrote, several years ago:

Mar. 14th, 2026 05:34 pm
[syndicated profile] capricorn_0mnicorn_feed

Dear Mellah:

Consider this my “suicide note.” But don’t worry. I’m fine.

Remember how excited I was to get the Time Machine Project? To point a telescope toward the sky, and actually see into the future– to scan the time scales of the Universe in both directions!

It’s been twenty years. The research grant is ending. They’ll want their report by the end of next month. There’s no sign of humanity anywhen out there.

They won’t like that. If I don’t fake my death, they’ll make it real.

So burn this letter.

I love you.
Please remember me without a name

π

Mar. 14th, 2026 08:00 pm
settiai: (Pizza -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
Okay, I've got to admit that this is probably some of the best Pi Day news that I've ever gotten. I just found out that I completely missed the fact that Giordano's is going to be opening a restaurant in DC this spring.

Proper stuffed pizza! In DC! I never thought that I'd see the day.
[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Marina Dunbar (now); Taz Ali, Emily Mackay and Rebecca Ratcliffe (earlier)

Warning for US citizens follows missile attack on US embassy, as Trump says US will coordinate with nations to protect oil tankers

Iranian media has reported there is no damage to its oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, following US attacks that Trump claimed had “obliterated” military targets on the Island.

Iran’s armed forces have threatened to destroy US-linked oil infrastructure if its own energy facilities are hit. Kharg Island serves as the export terminal for 90% of Iran’s oil shipments.

Continue reading...
[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Nadeem Badshah

Death comes two months after Alford was jailed for eight-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting two teenage girls

The actor John Alford has died in prison two months after being jailed for sexually assaulting two teenage girls.

Alford, 54, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in January after he was found guilty of the assaults which occurred during a party at a friend’s home.

The actor, who appeared in the drama London’s Burning and BBC show Grange Hill, died at HMP Bure, Norfolk, on Friday, the Prison Service said.

Alford, who was tried under his real name, John Shannon, was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl and charges of sexual assault and assault by penetration relating to a 15-year-old girl at a property in Hertfordshire in 2022.

Jurors heard during the trial that he had sexually assaulted the girls while they were drunk after a night out at the pub.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “John Shannon died in prison on March 13 2026.

“As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate.”

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[syndicated profile] guardianworldnews_feed

Posted by Jacob Steinberg at the London Stadium

Right at the death, Marc Guéhi skied over with the West Ham goal at his mercy. It was the chance. The Manchester City players collapsed, fearing any hope of reeling Arsenal in had disappeared into thin air, and there were probably a fair few Tottenham and Nottingham Forest fans cursing Guéhi’s lack of composure in front of goal.

This was a big night at both ends of the Premier League table. West Ham were dogged, defiant and unflinching in their refusal to give up on the point that lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time since November. They will believe, even though they will be back in the relegation zone if Forest pick up at least a point at home to Fulham on Sunday. Nuno Espírito Santo has orchestrated quite the revival. This draw made it two defeats in nine league games for West Ham and, while they still have the toughest run-in out of anyone scrapping for survival, they will take immense encouragement from how they neutralised City’s attack with an exhibition of classic Nunoball.

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