sofiaviolet | Network

For his birthday, my partner Doug requested Mom-Mom Bessie's Coconut Molasses Pie from Taste of Home More Easy Everyday Cooking 2024 page 254. So that's in the oven now. :D

EDIT 1/11/26 -- The pie is done and quite tasty. My partner is please. \o/ It resembles a shoofly pie, so if you like that, then this is worth a try.

Current Mood: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

New form of 'artificial metabolism' converts CO2 into biological building blocks

Researchers built the Reductive Formate Pathway, called the ReForm pathway, to convert CO2 into acetyl-CoA outside living cells. Acetyl-CoA is a small but essential molecule your cells use to turn food into energy. When your body breaks down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, it often funnels the results into acetyl-CoA. From there, acetyl-CoA carries a tiny chemical package called an acetyl group into the citric acid cycle, where your cells “burn” it. That process releases energy, and your body captures it to help make ATP, the main energy currency that powers cellular work.

This study shows how engineered enzymes, electricity-derived carbon feedstocks, and cell-free systems can be combined to recycle CO2 into useful chemical building blocks, while avoiding the limits of living cells and pointing toward new ways to make materials with lower carbon footprints.

That's good news for climate change.

However, it's also a step in most food replicator technologies, for those of you keeping an eye on that track.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

... is running a bit late today, but the mods are on top of it. If they can't reach the planned day host, someone else will step in to post the challenge.

Snowflake Challenge: A pair of ice skates hanging on a wood paneled wall. Pine boughs with a few ornaments are stuffed into the skates.

Current Mood: busy

cosmicjellyfish

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Current Mood: quixotic
Current Music: some ambient drone

mrkinch

I parked about 9 and was pleasantly surprised that it was not horribly cold. No wind helped, and I went in my jacket over four thin layers (silk, wool, poly, but still). I hadn't been there in well over a year, yikes! It was a lovely morning, but semi solitude even up on Riche Loop didn't last long on a Sunday. I chose Sunday for lack of school traffic and the Loop because I would get a look at the reservoir without going all the way out, but neither worked as well as I'd hoped. But there were Western Bluebirds in the parking lot and California Thrashers were singing, and I was quite happy. ( The list: )

A pair of coyotes were hunting at the bottom of the trail where it most closely approaches the reservoir, but I waited and moved slowly, and they each wandered away from the trail enough for me to pass. I'd thought that after I walked the Loop I'd take the other trail at least to the bridge, but there were so many people by then I went home. I'll try to go again soon, school traffic be damned.

princessofgeeks

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fandom_secrets_feed

Posted by Fandom!Secrets

https://fandomsecrets.livejournal.com/2335536.html

trobadora

How is tomorrow Monday again already?! Someone stole my weekend!

According to yesterday's poll, approximately 75% of respondents think about structure in some fashion while writing. POV sections, parallels and repetitions got the most votes.

As for me, I used to always pay attention to structure especially in terms of parallels and mirroring sections and such, even for very short pieces, but I lost that a little bit in recent years. I need to focus more on that again - I always felt it made things better! But for longer pieces, structure is still a basic part of how I conceive of a story.

One of the most obvious structuring elements is with multiple POVs, and I always try to have them alternate in a clear pattern. For example, my Yuletide fic this year has four chapters, structured by location, and the POV pattern was AAB-BBA:

Chapter 1 - POV A
Chapter 2 - POV A, POV B
Chapter 3 - POV B
Chapter 4 - POV B, POV A

The story is mostly written in close limited 3rd person, but I also started each chapter with a more distant/mythic omniscient POV and then zoomed in on the character.

60% of respondents agree that no poll is complete without tickyboxes. My people! *g*

I haven't been keeping up with Star Trek for ages, but I was curious about the upcoming Starfleet Academy show and looked into things a little. And video reviews aren't usually my thing, but I just watched most of this video, and it makes it sound very promising! Here's hoping.

Today's writing

Instead of working to finish anything, I've started something new. Why, brain, why?

WED Question of the Day

Poll #34070

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

View Respondents

What POV do you like to write in?

View Answers

first person
6 (27.3%)

second person
3 (13.6%)

third person omniscient
7 (31.8%)

third person limited
20 (90.9%)

other (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

What POV do you like to read in?

View Answers

first person
11 (50.0%)

second person
3 (13.6%)

third person omniscient
15 (68.2%)

third person limited
18 (81.8%)

other (see comments)
3 (13.6%)

My writing preferences for fanfic and original fic are ...

View Answers

the same
12 (54.5%)

different (see comments)
6 (27.3%)

I only write one of these
4 (18.2%)

My reading preferences for fanfic and original fic are ...

View Answers

the same
14 (63.6%)

different (see comments)
8 (36.4%)

I only read one of these
0 (0.0%)

I want a story from the POV of a tickybox

View Answers

yes! ticky that box!
18 (85.7%)

????
5 (23.8%)

NO
2 (9.5%)

Tally

( Days 1-5 )

Day 6:

alightbuthappypen,

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

the_siobhan,

trobadora,

ysilme

Day 7:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

shadaras,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 8:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

ofmonstrouswords,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 9:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 10:

badly_knitted,

brithistorian,

carenejeans,

china_shop,

cornerofmadness,

goddess47,

luzula,

sanguinity,

shadaras,

sylvanwitch,

trobadora

Day 11:

china_shop,

trobadora

Let me know if I missed anyone! And remember you can drop in or out at any time. :)

the_wanlorn

I refuse to start forgetting to post here in January. I absolutely refuse. I'm going to make it to February if it kills me.

Writing is going well! On writing days, I'm averaging almost 2k. It's great and I'm above where I need to be to hit my wordcount goal (40k on a specific project) for the month. The goal used to be 30k on a specific project, finishing it, but uh. It's gonna take more than that to hit the end. So, hopefully it'll be done at 40k. I'm 60% of the way through the wordcount, and I think????? I'm 60% through the story?

idk

Is anyone else extremely stressed about what we're going to replace discord with if it goes AI? Is anyone else extremely stressed that some friends are going to refuse to move and you won't be able to talk to them anymore? :\ I vote we all go back to using IRC. For the record. Stop complicating things with icons and voice chat and etc. I just want to do typeytypey with my friends.

(I'm the_wanlorn over there, also ftr)

Anyway. Back to writing probably. Later my gators.

Current Mood: blank
Current Location: the recliner in my living room
Current Music: Arrival (2016)

tozka

🎬 The Residence: Created by Paul William Davies. With Uzo Aduba, Giancarlo Esposito, Molly Griggs, Ken Marino. Inside the White House's staff residence and the lives which workers share with the First Family. 🔗

Binge rewatched The Residence today and I liked it much more this time around (tho I still think it's a bit too long).

In my first watch, I was too anxious to get to the solution and it became frustrating when they went on tangents. Knowing the solution and watching it again was much more fun. I enjoyed the humor more and caught some things about the murder motive that I missed the first time around.

I wish they'd do another season, or even a movie! I love the Cordelia Cupp character.

sholio

I FOUND IT AGAIN. I read a post on Tumblr a while back on a particularly nicely done instance of color symbolism with Londo on B5, and I finally found it. (More beneath the cut.)

( Spoilers for the whole show )

notalwaysright_feed

Posted by Not Always Right

https://notalwaysright.com/this-door-shall-remain-closed-to-you/402409/

https://notalwaysright.com/?p=402409

Read This Door Shall Remain Closed To You

Customer: "Yo, where are the lock picks?"
Me: "Uh, like, for picking locks?"
Customer: "Obviously!"

Read This Door Shall Remain Closed To You

https://notalwaysright.com/this-door-shall-remain-closed-to-you/402409/

https://notalwaysright.com/?p=402409

boxofdelights

We were walking the dogs yesterday and I took a photo that got 405 favorites and 226 boosts on Mastodon:
( A little free library in a tree trunk, and the book I took from it )

Neighborhoods always feel better with Little Free Libraries.

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6946 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 46 secrets from Secret Submission Post #992.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

brigid

My husband's a Scorpio.

When I think of Scorpio I think of some pretty specific things and this perfume isn't it.

Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing, sometimes it's a neutral thing.

Scorpio: A summer rainstorm, white Egyptian amber, bright pink peppercorns, dalmatian sage.

Scorpio is October 24 to November 22, meaning it's very solidly an autumn or spring sign. "Summer rainstorm" doesn't make sense. Vibes-wise it makes sense, Scorpio and Rainstorm, but there's autumnal and spring rainstorms. This also doesn't smell like rain at all. It also doesn't smell like peppercorns or sage (although dalmatian sage might just be something I'm unfamiliar with).

I'm not a fan of this scent, and it kind of gives me a headache. It's only been "resting" for about a week since I got it so I'll try it again in a week or two and see if I like it more. It's got a kind of plastic-ness to it, although it doesn't smell like plastic, if that makes sense. It's just a sort of feeling.

Perfume Master List

sanguinity

Is it too late to post about Yuletide? Surely not!

For Yuletide 2024, I tried to pick up a Hornblower-TV pinch-hit. Alas, even though I had the first part of the story written, I wasn't quick enough to get assigned the pinch-hit. Which turned out just as well, because the story stalled out and while I told myself I could post it as a treat, I never finished it. I ended up quasi-trunking it that spring as a hopeless job.

But in November I finally figured out what its plot needed to be (sadly, it would require a complete rewrite!), and then one of the Yuletide 2025 requests was even a better match for the overhauled story than the original 2024 pinch-hit would have been. So I rewrote it, and published as a Yuletide treat, hurrah:

The Worst Part of Waking Up for BromeliadDreams

Bush/Hornblower

Hurt/Comfort, Dying Declarations, First Kiss (is also the) Last Kiss (or it should have been damnit), Everybody Lives (as embarrassing as that is for some), When He Made This Bed He Wasn't Expecting to Wake Up In It, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

At the end of Loyalty, Bush is too late to save Hornblower. With his dying breath, Hornblower requests a kiss from Bush…

…only to wake up a week later and discover he's going to live after all. Damnit.

The title btw, was only meant to be provisional, but it was as sticky as fuck and time was tight and I never got around to changing it. I do realize it's the perfect title for a Folgers Incest fic (and I had a serious conversation with myself about whether I really wanted to waste such a great title on the wrong fandom), but in the end I don't have any real ambition to write Folgers Incest fic. And anyway, it's funny. So there it stayed, sorry for the earworm.

This morning I was tidying my WIP folder, archiving the stories I've finished since the last time I cleaned up, and remembered I still had the first version of the story, which is in Bush-pov. I still like it very much, and it's mostly all stuff that doesn't appear in the rewrite, except by implication.

So this morning I published it as a bonus:

Too Late, Too Late

Hornblower/Bush

POV William Bush, Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, Episode: Loyalty

Summary:

Bush is too late to the beach to stop the firing squad.

Bonus Bush point-of-view on the beach scene.

One of the things I love about fic is that there doesn't have to be one canonical version; you can post alternate povs and alternate endings, and bits and bobs and scraps of things. And a lot of times people enjoy them! And if they don't enjoy them, they don't have to click. It's great.

So if Bush-pov on the beach scene is the kind of thing you might enjoy: enjoy!

melagan posting in

fandomcalendar

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rachelmanija

Mosscap and Dex's adventures continue from where they left off. They visit human places, including Dex's large and confusing family. Mosscap has a brush with mortality. Dex does not return to being a tea monk, their vocation still up in the air.

I enjoyed this novella for much the same reasons I enjoyed the first one, though I missed the tea service, which was my favorite part of the first book. Mosscap does turn out to be fallible and learns from Dex as much as Dex learns from it, which was nice. My favorite part of this book was the glimpses of the world, which still seems like an extremely nice place to live in.

rthstewart

it's [almost] heeeeeeeeerrrre

threesentenceficathon begins 17 January.

Schedule is here.

Dust off those prompts!

ysabetwordsmith

This new imaging technology breaks the rules of optics

Scientists have unveiled a new way to capture ultra-sharp optical images without lenses or painstaking alignment. The approach uses multiple sensors to collect raw light patterns independently, then synchronizes them later using computation. This sidesteps long-standing physical limits that have held optical imaging back for decades. The result is wide-field, sub-micron resolution from distances that were previously impossible.

I immediately thought of how many species have multiple eyes. Vertebrates favor two, but invertebrates often have more. Spiders run to 8. Scallops can have hundreds. Since eyes are delicate and expensive tissue, there must be a compelling advantage, specially for more than 1-2 of them. I would suspect that greater detail is among the advantages.

Current Mood: busy

April 2014

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
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20	21	22	23	24	25	26
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Page Summary

ysabetwordsmith - Today's Cooking
ysabetwordsmith - Science
ysabetwordsmith - Snowflake Challenge
cosmicjellyfish - sticky: media eaten in 2026
mrkinch - 1/11/2026 Valle Vista Staging Area Riche Loop
princessofgeeks - NFL playoffs
fandom_secrets_feed - [ SECRET POST #6946 ]
trobadora - Write Every day 2026: January, Day 11
the_wanlorn - *claps hands together* Alright Then!
tozka - watched: the residence
sholio - B5 color theorizing
notalwaysright_feed - This Door Shall Remain Closed To You
boxofdelights - tree trunk library
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #6946 ]
brigid - Sucreabeille: Scorpio
sanguinity - Belated Yuletide reveal: Hornblower, plus an extra
melagan in fandomcalendar - Romancing McShep Happy-ending Fest 2026
rachelmanija - A Prayer for the Crown Shy, by Becky Chambers
rthstewart - 2026 Three Sentence Ficathon
ysabetwordsmith - Science

txtbx

Not nice, but friendly.

relevant to my interests

Network

Navigation

Today's Cooking

Science

Snowflake Challenge

sticky: media eaten in 2026

1/11/2026 Valle Vista Staging Area Riche Loop

NFL playoffs

[ SECRET POST #6946 ]

Write Every day 2026: January, Day 11

claps hands together Alright Then!

watched: the residence

B5 color theorizing

This Door Shall Remain Closed To You

tree trunk library

[ SECRET POST #6946 ]

Sucreabeille: Scorpio

Belated Yuletide reveal: Hornblower, plus an extra

Romancing McShep Happy-ending Fest 2026

A Prayer for the Crown Shy, by Becky Chambers

2026 Three Sentence Ficathon

Science

April 2014

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