For anyone interested in low-water gardening

Today is mostly sunny and mild.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.












.
 

This is an advance announcement for the Tuesday, September 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. This time the theme will be "communication styles." I'll be soliciting ideas for journalists, writers, radio hosts, counselors, linguists, leaders, public speakers, explorers, traders, diplomats, negotiators and mediators, partners, housemates, siblings, parents, teachers, clergy, superheroes, supervillains, teammates, alien or fantasy species, failure analysts, ethicists, activists, rebels, other people who deal in communication, writing, speaking, translating, parenting, teaching, adventuring, negotiating, mediating, leaving your comfort zone, discovering things, giving instructions, troubleshooting, improvising, adapting, cleaning up messes, cooperating, bartering, taking over in an emergency, saving the day, discovering yourself, studying others, testing boundaries, coming of age, learning what you can (and can't) do, sharing, preparing for the worst, expecting the unexpected, fixing what's broke, upsetting the status quo, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, recovering from setbacks, returning home, newspaper offices, writer nooks, radio stations, counseling centers, trading posts, classrooms, schools, churches, sharehouses, campfires, coffeehouses, bookstores, supervillain lairs, makerspaces, nonhuman accommodations and adaptations, farmer's markets, starships, alien planets, magical lands, foreign dimensions, other places where communication happens, momentious conversations, mysterious manuscripts, confusing transmissions, negotiations, lectures, romantic complications, sudden surprises, travel mishaps, the buck stops here, trial and error, intercultural entanglements, asking for help and getting it, enemies to friends/lovers, interdimensional travel, Get a Life Program, 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.

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One is developing its own neurovariant culture with unique communication quirks.

The Bear Tunnels introduces modern principles to people in the past, including literacy.

The Blueshift Troupers travel to different planets solving problems.

A Conflagration of Dragons has the Six Races (plus the dragons) who all have different cultures, making it challenging for refugees to communicate with each other.

The Daughters of the Apocalypse has people trying to find enough resources to survive, with a distinct split between Before and After dialects.

Eloquent Souls presents a setting where soulmarks are common, leading to many odd expressions as people try to make their Words distinctive.

Frankenstein's Family features two scientists running a valley in historic Romania, along with a pack of werewolves, a couple of vampires, and a mummy.

Hart's Farm is a free love community with lots of interesting relationships and ways to communicate.

Monster House is suburban fantasy with a diverse household.

Not Quite Kansas includes an awkard trio of a college student, a former cop, and their demon who often encounter challenges with communication.

One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis follows Shaeth as he works on becoming the God of Drunks, with a surprising amount of heartfelt conversations.

Path of the Paladins involves a lot of communication between humans but also deities.

Peculiar Obligations features Quakers and pirates trying to get along.

Polychrome Heroics has ordinary humans, supernaries, blue-plate specials, superheroes, supervillains, primal and animal soups all trying to get along and figure out how to make a functional society.

Quixotic Ideas has a more positive world with integrated magic, where people usually manage to solve problems with communication rather than violence.

Schrodinger's Heroes is about saving the world from alternate dimensions. The group is very diverse in background and communication styles.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks will reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

If you're interested, mark the date on your calendar, and please hold actual prompts until the "Poetry Fishbowl Open" post next week. (If you're not available that day, or you live in a time zone that makes it hard to reach me, you can leave advance prompts. I am now.) Meanwhile, if you want to help with promotion, please feel free to link back here or repost this on your blog.

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

Today is cloudy and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- We did some work along the south side of the house.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- I watered the new picnic table and the septic garden.

I picked 4 red cherry tomatoes.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- I watered the old picnic table and the house yard plants.

EDIT 8/25/25 -- We did more work along the south side of the house.

I watered the telephone pole garden and a few of the savanna seedlings.

Cicadas and crickets are singing.  The first sliver of moon is visible.

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

How to Piss Off Men: 109 Things to Say to Shatter the Male Ego by Kyle Prue (2024)

Praise Goddess and pass the ammunition!  :D

Tonight we made stir-fry inspired by the leftover peppers and onions from yesterday's mint chicken.  For the initial aromatics I used freeze-dried ginger, freeze-dried garlic, and a ball carrot cut into matchsticks.  I also added a can of baby corn since the volume of vegetables wasn't all that large.  For meat I added shrimp.  The sauce was made from the juice of two lemon slices, some full-flavor olive oil, a dribble of Worcestershire sauce, and a little tapioca starch.  It didn't need more seasoning because it had some of the mint spice coating mixed in with the vegetables.  It turned out rather well.

Extinct human relatives left a genetic gift that helped people thrive in the Americas

A new study found that a gene passed down from extinct archaic humans provided an adaptive advantage for Indigenous people of the Americas and is still common today in people of Indigenous descent.
Scientists have discovered that a gene called MUC19, inherited from Denisovans through ancient interbreeding, may have played a vital role in helping Indigenous ancestors adapt as they migrated into the Americas. Found at unusually high frequencies in both modern and ancient populations, the gene likely provided immune advantages against new pathogens. This research highlights how archaic DNA, passed through both Denisovans and Neanderthals, enriched human genetic diversity in ways that still shape us today.

Today we went down to Effingham for the Oddities Market at the Thelma Keller Convention Center, hosted by Hazel-Jayne Crystals & Gifts. We still have not made it back to the actual Hazel-Jayne and want to do so.

( Read more... )

arlie mentioned in a post that Protonmail allows you to create email aliases to avoid spam.  This also seems extremely useful for cases where someone extorts your email from you before giving you something you need, but you don't really want to hear from them afterwards.

 

23 Must-Read Books About Hope That Inspire Change & Action

John Parsi, executive director of the Hope Center, says that while optimistic people see the glass as half full, hopeful people ask how they can fill the glass full.

“Hope requires a person to take responsibility for their wants and desires and take action in working towards them,” Parsi says.

So whether you’re looking to start, sustain, or complete something, we hope the books included in this list inspire you to take action and work towards whatever goals you have in front of you.


I am particularly charmed to see “The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear” edited by Paul Rogat Loeb because I've got a poem in that one, "Origami Emotion," from a couple decades ago.