Photo cross-post
Feb. 14th, 2026 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker
Day at the beach. They had lots of fun, even if it was 1 degree above
freezing.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
andrewducker
Interesting Links for 14-02-2026
Feb. 14th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. English schools told they have to out trans children
- (tags:bigotry lgbt children transgender uk england )
- 2. Every £1 invested in buses generates £5.
- (tags:transport investment buses )
- 3. Trans people facing 'workers' rights crisis' as court rules employers can ban trans women from using female toilets
- (tags:lgbt bigotry law toilets transgender uk )
- 4. Russian bot dreams of life beyond repeatedly typing "Vote Reform"
- (tags:politics ai satire funny )
- 5. Somehow "The Bone Witcher of Knob Mountain" is not "romance"
- (tags:publishing sex wtf )
- 6. European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women"
- (tags:LGBT transgender Europe GoodNews )
Daily Happiness
Feb. 13th, 2026 08:34 pmtorachan1. We met our deadline for the big project, so it can move ahead on schedule! For the last couple weeks we've been pretty sure it was going to be okay (and this last week there was really no worry at all), but it was a major stressor since I joined the project last summer, and we did not make the original deadline at the end of the year so this extension was our final final deadline. It's a huge relief to have turned that in to the developers and be able to report to upper management that everything's going well.
2. This morning I was almost home from my walk when I saw a text from Carla saying she was going to get a breakfast burrito. The restaurant is not on my way, but only about a five minute walk from where I was, so I met up with her there and we split a burrito for breakfast.
3. I was looking around to see what all is near the new store when I go to help out next week and saw there's a Shake Shack in the same mall, which reminded me that we wanted to go to Shake Shack and try more of the Korean menu, so we went there tonight. It's a little longer walk than Carla was up for, so we drove, but then after dinner walked around, down to the beach and then through the Promenade.
Everything at Shake Shack was delicious. In addition to the chicken sandwich, which I'd had before, we got the spicy fries with cheese sauce. I'd had them without the cheese before and they were good, but even better with cheese. I also got the gochujang caramel shake, which was also very tasty.
We used to go down to the Promenade all the time years ago, but then just stopped, and now hardly ever go down there, and when we do it's usually just to the first block, where the Apple Store is. This time we did go to the Apple Store but also the other two blocks we don't usually check out, and I had totally forgotten there's a Barnes and Noble there again! There was a huge three story one there years ago, and then that closed (in 2018, apparently), but they opened a new smaller one about a year and a half ago. I had heard something about it, but it's not very relevant to me anymore, so I immediately forgot. We went in and checked it out, though, and it's really nice. Nowhere near as huge as the old one, but still big, and they have a second level in the basement where I bought a new puzzle.
We ended our walk with donuts from Sidecar, which is just about a block from Shake Shack. Brought the donuts home and will have them later. Overall it was a really nice night out and just the sort of thing that I want to do more of. Although there were several empty storefronts, overall the Promenade seemed pretty revitalized and there were a lot of people down there tonight. (It's one of those areas that has gone through multiple booms and busts. When I was really little, it was just called the mall, and then became the old mall when they built a new, indoor mall next to it, and it kind of died off. Then when I was a teenager it was revitalized as the Third Street Promenade, but started dying off again a while back, but seems to be having another revival now.)
4. It's the start of a three day weekend!
5. Molly!
2. This morning I was almost home from my walk when I saw a text from Carla saying she was going to get a breakfast burrito. The restaurant is not on my way, but only about a five minute walk from where I was, so I met up with her there and we split a burrito for breakfast.
3. I was looking around to see what all is near the new store when I go to help out next week and saw there's a Shake Shack in the same mall, which reminded me that we wanted to go to Shake Shack and try more of the Korean menu, so we went there tonight. It's a little longer walk than Carla was up for, so we drove, but then after dinner walked around, down to the beach and then through the Promenade.
Everything at Shake Shack was delicious. In addition to the chicken sandwich, which I'd had before, we got the spicy fries with cheese sauce. I'd had them without the cheese before and they were good, but even better with cheese. I also got the gochujang caramel shake, which was also very tasty.
We used to go down to the Promenade all the time years ago, but then just stopped, and now hardly ever go down there, and when we do it's usually just to the first block, where the Apple Store is. This time we did go to the Apple Store but also the other two blocks we don't usually check out, and I had totally forgotten there's a Barnes and Noble there again! There was a huge three story one there years ago, and then that closed (in 2018, apparently), but they opened a new smaller one about a year and a half ago. I had heard something about it, but it's not very relevant to me anymore, so I immediately forgot. We went in and checked it out, though, and it's really nice. Nowhere near as huge as the old one, but still big, and they have a second level in the basement where I bought a new puzzle.
We ended our walk with donuts from Sidecar, which is just about a block from Shake Shack. Brought the donuts home and will have them later. Overall it was a really nice night out and just the sort of thing that I want to do more of. Although there were several empty storefronts, overall the Promenade seemed pretty revitalized and there were a lot of people down there tonight. (It's one of those areas that has gone through multiple booms and busts. When I was really little, it was just called the mall, and then became the old mall when they built a new, indoor mall next to it, and it kind of died off. Then when I was a teenager it was revitalized as the Third Street Promenade, but started dying off again a while back, but seems to be having another revival now.)
4. It's the start of a three day weekend!
5. Molly!
Ice Fishing? + Sunset
Feb. 13th, 2026 06:57 pmyourlibrarian posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
common_nature
Spotted something last week with a sunset, it looked like a beam of light was coming up from the ground. Tried to zoom in on it to make it a little clearer but I think it was more noticeable in person.
( Read more... )
The Friday Report
Feb. 13th, 2026 06:12 pmrolanniSigh. Friday. A semi-productive day, enlivened by random moments of wishing to scream. An Executive Decision has therefore been taken.
Tomorrow is a Writer's Day Off, even though I feel like I don't have the luxury of time. I gotta get outta this house, and the Plan is to go to the Inside Farmers Market in Belfast tomorrow, and Have an Outing. I give myself permission to spend money on frivolities. Possibly, I will even eat lunch.
Hopefully this will address the Inclination to Scream.
In the meantime, Rook has convinced Tali that it is too Happy Hour, so I will be making up the bed for the night, and possibly finding something Silly to watch while I have a glass, or two, of wine.
I hope everyone had a delightful Friday the Thirteenth.
Be well. Be safe.
I'll check in as can.
[movement] amusement
Feb. 13th, 2026 10:38 pmkaberettBefore getting myself onto the mat: all is woe, everything is too much and takes too long, I Cannot Face Cooking, we shall be forced to Resort to Sad Pasta
Ten minutes after getting myself onto the mat and starting moving: ... actually, you know what, stir-frying the purple sprouting broccoli with Stuff sounds both achievable and Vastly More Appealing, scratch the Sad Supermarket plan
It was just warm-up! I hadn't even got the endorphins going yet!
The next week
Feb. 13th, 2026 09:09 pmcosmolinguistI'm going to Huddersfield for work on Monday, Wrexham on Wednesday, and at the very end of today I had a call where I ended up agreeing to go to "somewhere near Walsall" on Friday next week (I'm still awaiting the promised email with more specific details than that!).
(For non-locals, these are all 2ish hours away, or less, but one of these in a week would usually be a big deal and leave me really tired the next day and etc.)
They're all trips I really want to make, all for unrelated things that just happen to have turned up at the same time. I'll be fine. But oof!
Tomorrow I'm helping a fellow Queer Club member move heavy furniture to his new place, while V has an unpleasant hospital appointment testing for something potentially serious. Sunday D and I will once again be doing tip runs for V's relative who's clearing out his mum's house...
Everything is... a bit intense at the moment.
I do have almost all of the next week off work (except for a trip to Chester lol, which I actually really want to do). Really looking forward to that.
2025 52 Card Project: Week 6: Object Permanence
Feb. 13th, 2026 12:05 pmpegkerrUnusually, I will not be doing my collage this week about what has been foremost in my mind, some important and satisfying work that I've been doing, but that's because I can't talk about it. It's related to the resistance, and I want to protect the people I'm working with. So: something else.
Last week's collage was about my new car. Now that I have that shiny new car in my garage, it was time to get rid of the old one. Poor old Lafayette, my 2000 Camry, got its rear end crunched last November. It was definitely time.
Yet, when it came right down to it, saying goodbye to my old car was unexpectedly difficult. That's because it was Rob's car. His last car. The last one that had his name on the title. We drove to all of his appointments at Mayo Clinic in that car. Eventually, he grew too ill to drive, and when we got rid of my car, I took over driving the Camry. And it served us well--it was a trustworthy, reliable car, and we were grateful to have it.
I took it into the body shop to get the estimate, and they told me that it could be just left there, and my insurance company would pick it up. I had already cleaned it out, but I was still taken by surprise by a wave of grief as I saw the shop worker drive it away. It was another link with Rob that was disappearing. How can I keep being taken by surprise this way?
I wish I had given the hood one last caress, that I had told Lafayette, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Thank you."
I wish I had time to say goodbye.
Isn't it strange that we can get so emotionally attached to inanimate objects?
Image description: Background: shadowy fog. Foreground: a Toyota Camry with a crunched back end. The license plate reads "Rob Car." A semi-transparent man's head [Rob's head] hovers above the car.
Object Permanence
Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
Last week's collage was about my new car. Now that I have that shiny new car in my garage, it was time to get rid of the old one. Poor old Lafayette, my 2000 Camry, got its rear end crunched last November. It was definitely time.
Yet, when it came right down to it, saying goodbye to my old car was unexpectedly difficult. That's because it was Rob's car. His last car. The last one that had his name on the title. We drove to all of his appointments at Mayo Clinic in that car. Eventually, he grew too ill to drive, and when we got rid of my car, I took over driving the Camry. And it served us well--it was a trustworthy, reliable car, and we were grateful to have it.
I took it into the body shop to get the estimate, and they told me that it could be just left there, and my insurance company would pick it up. I had already cleaned it out, but I was still taken by surprise by a wave of grief as I saw the shop worker drive it away. It was another link with Rob that was disappearing. How can I keep being taken by surprise this way?
I wish I had given the hood one last caress, that I had told Lafayette, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Thank you."
I wish I had time to say goodbye.
Isn't it strange that we can get so emotionally attached to inanimate objects?
Image description: Background: shadowy fog. Foreground: a Toyota Camry with a crunched back end. The license plate reads "Rob Car." A semi-transparent man's head [Rob's head] hovers above the car.
Click on the links to see the 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021 52 Card Project galleries.
Oh right, it's Friday!
Feb. 13th, 2026 06:27 pmgoodbyebirdFanart Friday ahoy :D
Absolute Wonder Woman
absolute wonder woman by asianfisherman @ bluesky. Our favorite lady and her favorite Pegasus. LOVE the profile of Diana here, the tousled hair, the palette. Perfection.
Absolute Wonder Woman by ohvalkyrie @ bluesky. Unusually angled profile, lovely coloring.
A3 commission by getcampbell @ bluesky. Moody black and white ink drawing.
Really loving Absolute Wonder Woman right now by camartstuff @ bluesky. Full bodied hairporn goddess.
horse girls by crowwkui @ bsky. Diana and Kara, super cute!
Princesses of the Underworld by dylanmacri @ bsky. Hades crossover, very adorable, much muscle.
I still don't know how to spot if certain bsky posts are locked when you don't have an account... sorry if some don't load for you.
Absolute Wonder Woman
absolute wonder woman by asianfisherman @ bluesky. Our favorite lady and her favorite Pegasus. LOVE the profile of Diana here, the tousled hair, the palette. Perfection.
Absolute Wonder Woman by ohvalkyrie @ bluesky. Unusually angled profile, lovely coloring.
A3 commission by getcampbell @ bluesky. Moody black and white ink drawing.
Really loving Absolute Wonder Woman right now by camartstuff @ bluesky. Full bodied hairporn goddess.
horse girls by crowwkui @ bsky. Diana and Kara, super cute!
Princesses of the Underworld by dylanmacri @ bsky. Hades crossover, very adorable, much muscle.
I still don't know how to spot if certain bsky posts are locked when you don't have an account... sorry if some don't load for you.
Life with two kids: No memory to speak of
Feb. 13th, 2026 05:21 pmandrewduckerIt's amazing that my mood depends so much on what my children remember to bring home from school.
(Yesterday, down two bus passes and a backpack, misery.
Today, all of their belongings, relief!)
(Yesterday, down two bus passes and a backpack, misery.
Today, all of their belongings, relief!)
Interesting Links for 13-02-2026
Feb. 13th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. The Agile Manifesto is 25 years old!
- (tags:software development history )
- 2. Trump failed to indict six members of Congress. This is why it matters (and why juries are important)
- (tags:usa law )
- 3. Putin's megaphone: Orbán's far-right push into UK universities is fuelled by Russian oil
- (tags:Hungary Russia bigotry uk )
- 4. Scottish government bans wet wipes containing plastic
- (tags:scotland plastic pollution babies )
I feel conspired against.
Feb. 13th, 2026 11:17 amgoodbyebird+ So.
Night one of trying to go straight to bed: slice my finger open on my razor in the cabinet as I reach for my toothbrush. Spend 25 minutes applying tissue paper waiting for the bleeding to stop before sullenly getting dressed and going to find a bandaid.
Night two, as I'm clearing supper away, a cheerful announcement in the mess hall: we have an extra GB of Internet each! ...That we have to use before midnight and it rolls over to the next week. Well. I can't let that go to waste but hey, I just bought a bunch of comics, they'll eat that GB for breakfast.
iPad: What is this wifi you speak of? Haven't heard of it, I'm not connecting to that.
Me: *beleaguered sigh* I can't not use it. *goes on YouTube and stays up way too late*
+ Anyways. I comfort bought a bunch of comics? Because the pre-order code for the Mitski tickets did in fact not arrive and so no concert for me *sullenly kicks rocks*. It looks like I could have paired it with the Gentleman Jack ballet, and I think the Marie Antoinette exhibit is still on at the VA? Was starting to slowly form a plan and now it ain't happening.
Comics though!
- pre-ordered vol2 of Absolute Wonder Woman, it was 50% off and that seems so silly to me.
- Vol 5 & 6 of Poison Ivy. The joy of realizing I was that far behind :DDD I'm two thirds through vol5 and it may be my favorite?
- Voyager: Way Home 5 issue mini concluded, I picked those up. omnomnom more Janeway.
- Nice House by the Sea vol1 for my creepy lil alien guy making poor decisions about his blorbos.
- Daredevil & Echo mini bc sale and pretty art.
- Defenders: Beyond bc it looked like a fun romp (I should re-read Saladin's Exiles tbh)
- Kaya vol1. Been wanting to for a while due to the art I've seen, and once again: sale.
+ Things I'd like to do when I'm home:
Post that Top 10 prematurely cancelled series list I wanted to do for Snowflake.
Festivids recs.
Getintw_amc rolling.
Last masterpost from forsquares.
Play Dune Awakening, they've made it much easier to jump back in thank fuck.
Maybe the ABC of comics I saw on BlueSky that looked fun.
Open laptop. Make shiny squares. Possibly shiny vid.
Work on my layout.
Update scrapbook.
+ it's just TWO MORE DAYS you can do it Self! Let's go lesbians etcetera.
Night one of trying to go straight to bed: slice my finger open on my razor in the cabinet as I reach for my toothbrush. Spend 25 minutes applying tissue paper waiting for the bleeding to stop before sullenly getting dressed and going to find a bandaid.
Night two, as I'm clearing supper away, a cheerful announcement in the mess hall: we have an extra GB of Internet each! ...That we have to use before midnight and it rolls over to the next week. Well. I can't let that go to waste but hey, I just bought a bunch of comics, they'll eat that GB for breakfast.
iPad: What is this wifi you speak of? Haven't heard of it, I'm not connecting to that.
Me: *beleaguered sigh* I can't not use it. *goes on YouTube and stays up way too late*
+ Anyways. I comfort bought a bunch of comics? Because the pre-order code for the Mitski tickets did in fact not arrive and so no concert for me *sullenly kicks rocks*. It looks like I could have paired it with the Gentleman Jack ballet, and I think the Marie Antoinette exhibit is still on at the VA? Was starting to slowly form a plan and now it ain't happening.
Comics though!
- pre-ordered vol2 of Absolute Wonder Woman, it was 50% off and that seems so silly to me.
- Vol 5 & 6 of Poison Ivy. The joy of realizing I was that far behind :DDD I'm two thirds through vol5 and it may be my favorite?
- Voyager: Way Home 5 issue mini concluded, I picked those up. omnomnom more Janeway.
- Nice House by the Sea vol1 for my creepy lil alien guy making poor decisions about his blorbos.
- Daredevil & Echo mini bc sale and pretty art.
- Defenders: Beyond bc it looked like a fun romp (I should re-read Saladin's Exiles tbh)
- Kaya vol1. Been wanting to for a while due to the art I've seen, and once again: sale.
+ Things I'd like to do when I'm home:
Post that Top 10 prematurely cancelled series list I wanted to do for Snowflake.
Festivids recs.
Get
intw_amc rolling. Last masterpost from forsquares.
Play Dune Awakening, they've made it much easier to jump back in thank fuck.
Maybe the ABC of comics I saw on BlueSky that looked fun.
Open laptop. Make shiny squares. Possibly shiny vid.
Work on my layout.
Update scrapbook.
+ it's just TWO MORE DAYS you can do it Self! Let's go lesbians etcetera.
Daily Happiness
Feb. 12th, 2026 06:36 pmtorachan1. They finally fixed the broken restroom at work! The store does not have enough restrooms. There is one set of gendered multi-stall employee restrooms upstairs, but the men's has only one stall. Downstairs there are multi-stall restrooms by the food court (two stalls in the men's) and two single toilet gender neutral ones on the other side of the store. The single toilet ones are closest to me now that my desk moved, as I just have to pop downstairs and it's right there, but due to some issues with the door/door frame, one of them has been closed since early December, and it has been so awful, especially during the holiday season. But now the door is finally fixed and both are open, so the days I've been at the store this week, there hasn't been a single time where I've had to wait for a toilet. Huzzah!
2. I made an appointment for my tattoo touch-up, now that it's fully healed. Since I'll be out of town half the week next week, I just asked for something the week after, and got set up for two weeks from today.
3. I usually take my lunch to work, but didn't have anything quick and easy to take today, so I planned to buy something, and remembered that they just introduced a roast beef salad, so I got that. It was really good! The dressing said it was truffle wasabi but neither flavor was very strong. I don't care about truffle at all, but I do like wasabi, and could have stood for it to be a bit tangier but I liked it. In addition to the beef and greens, it also had asparagus, baby corn, and tomatoes.
3. Chloe in the blankets again! (The previous picture I posted of her with her head sticking out from the blanket is now my most popular post on bluesky with like 1.7K likes. I normally get like ten lol. I think my previous most popular photos were a couple hundred?)
2. I made an appointment for my tattoo touch-up, now that it's fully healed. Since I'll be out of town half the week next week, I just asked for something the week after, and got set up for two weeks from today.
3. I usually take my lunch to work, but didn't have anything quick and easy to take today, so I planned to buy something, and remembered that they just introduced a roast beef salad, so I got that. It was really good! The dressing said it was truffle wasabi but neither flavor was very strong. I don't care about truffle at all, but I do like wasabi, and could have stood for it to be a bit tangier but I liked it. In addition to the beef and greens, it also had asparagus, baby corn, and tomatoes.
3. Chloe in the blankets again! (The previous picture I posted of her with her head sticking out from the blanket is now my most popular post on bluesky with like 1.7K likes. I normally get like ten lol. I think my previous most popular photos were a couple hundred?)
(no subject)
Feb. 12th, 2026 09:01 pmofearthandstarsThe Endangerment Finding has been revoked.
This is just another enormously sad moment in the history of this country — and for science, for democracy, for the millions of people who will be affected by climate change in the years to come.
Although kudos to whomever entitled this article.
Potential outcomes - possibly taking years to unwind.
My heart hurts.
Losing Community?
Feb. 13th, 2026 12:05 amdiffrentcoloursI haven't posted on Facebook for about a year, since they announced that they were no longer even pretending to moderate queerphobia. But I've checked in there about once a week to catch up on close friends, and it's been a useful source of events. Since they've now insisted that users pay or get even more stalked / used to feed the LLM / GenAI machine, I've decided to just download my data (including photos etc.) and delete my account. I'm aware that I'm cutting myself off from some people this way, but most of them I've got other ways to talk to - mostly via Signal or WhatsApp.
This is happening about the same time as Discord are announcing various changes. I'm already using a SOCKS proxy based in Germany to circumvent their age restriction requirements, but that may stop being effective soon, or they may again be feeding everything into the GenAI behemoth. There's a good chance I'm going to have to disengage with Discord in the next few weeks.
I'm worried that this is going to cut me off from some other communities. The Manchester-based Discord has been a bit dead since a big argument a few months ago caused a schism, and neither it nor its supposed replacement managed critical mass. So that's not much of a concern. And I quit the UTAW Discord when I resigned.
But the Doof uses Discord for its Thursday evening stream chat, and I'll really miss that. I've been suggesting to communities that they move to Zulip, who provide a free tier much like Discord, but which is also Free Software, self hostable, and supports migrating between installs. I even set one up for the Doof. But nobody's even interested in trying it out so far. Discord is also a place where some queer and Covid-cautious activism happens and I'll be sad to miss that too.
Still, concentrating on the positives, I have friends from real-life things like Queer Club and the gym, who I talk to over Signal or WhatsApp, and I've just prompted a meetup of local gym buds for brunch in a few weeks. I'm playing a D&D campaign with P and friends every couple of weeks. I chat with people on the Fediverse. Even if I do lose out on communities currently based on Discord, I'm not going to be totally cut off.
The Friday Five for 13 February 2026
Feb. 12th, 2026 01:32 pmanais_pf posting in thefridayfive1. Who was your first kiss?
2. Who is the last person you kissed?
3. What is the story of your most romantic kiss?
4. What is the story of your worst kiss?
5. Who do you want to kiss right now?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
2. Who is the last person you kissed?
3. What is the story of your most romantic kiss?
4. What is the story of your worst kiss?
5. Who do you want to kiss right now?
Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!