For anyone interested in low-water gardening

Today I took pictures of icicles and snow, mostly in the house yard, some down the driveway.

( Walk with me ... )

Four countries announce Eurovision 2026 boycott after Israel allowed to compete

Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain have all said they won't be taking part in next year's contest.


You can play along at home by skipping Eurovision 2026 to purchase songs from countries who have taken a stand against genocide -- or buy Palestinian music.

Today is sunny and cold.  Icicles are forming along the eaves.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen several more mourning doves roosting in the trees, puffed up like little beige softballs.  :D

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Thanks to a donation from fuzzyred there are 35 new verses, and a donation from janetmiles for 9 verses, so there are 44 new verses in "An Inkling of Things to Come."  Shiv and his classmates discuss magical weather, magical geography, natural resources, plants and animals, history, and other aspects of worldbuilding.

This poem came out of the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from janetmiles, dialecticdreamer, readera, and see_also_friend. It also fills the "Set Boundaries" square in my 2-1-25 card for the Valentines Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by janetmiles. It belongs to the Strange Family thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. "A Dangerous Thing to Be a Doll" happens earlier and will be helpful background.

( Read more... )

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a lady cardinal, and two male cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I saw several sparrows playing in the snow, splashing around in it as if dustbathing.  :D

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/3/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
 

twistedchick has posted a terrific Yule Prayer for Resistance calling to Aphrodite. 

Yet More on Ancient Greek Dildos

This is one of those delightful linguistic deep-dives so beloved of classical philologists. Nelson considers the use of classical Greek ὄλισβος (olisbos) as meaning “dildo” within the context of its other meanings and of other words for dildo and concludes that not only was “dildo” not the primary meaning for the word, but that it also wasn’t the standard/default term for such an instrument. Rather, the modern scholarly assumption that olisbos=dildo derives from the use of the word in Aristophanes and the tendency of the works of Aristophanes to dominate understandings of Greek usage of his time.


Just in case you want some words that modern censors are unlikely to recognize. :D  Or you just like ancient sex toys.

The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Sentient and Self-Aware Machines." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for androids, robots, sexbots, sentient ships, other digital people, programmers, gizmologists and super-gizmologists, super-intellects, rebels, researchers, journalists, historians, explorers, partners, teachers, leaders, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, ethicists, activists, other people who work with self-aware machines, programming, changing or breaking programs, building hardware, choosing a hardware body, finding partners, upsetting predictions, expecting the unexpected, researching, revising theories, teaching, adventuring, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, conducting experiments, observation changing experiments, experiments changing paradigms, adapting, improvising, troubleshooting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, coming out, running away from home, going off the rails, subverting fate, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, cyberspace, computer centers, HAMshack, robot factories, worldgates, liminal zones, schools, sharehouses, libraries, laboratories, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, stores, starships, bizarre exoplanets, foreign dimensions, other places frequented by digital people, American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Robots, hardware, software, quicklife, artificial intelligence, ethics of self-aware machines, toolkits, space exploration, reversals, contradictions, conundrums, puzzling discoveries, sudden surprises, inventions that change everything, the buck stops here, trial and error, polarity, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, lab conditions are not field conditions, superpower manifestation, the end of where your framework actually applies, ethics, innovation, problems that can't be solved by hitting, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

December is amnesty month.


Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One has the AYES.

The Blueshift Troupers is designed for easy crossing with other genres or tropes as they visit different planets, thus can easily accommodate self-aware machines.

Diminished Expectations has the gynoid and others.

Kung Fu Robots is entirely about self-aware robots.

P.I.E. has Zephyr, a digital person.

Polychrome Heroics has the rescued sexbots among others.

Schrodinger's Heroes is dimensional science fiction, designed for easy crossing with any other characters / setting / genre, thus convenient for self-aware machines.

The Steamsmith includes the tommies.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks will reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )