BBC Merlin Battle-ROUND UP!

Apr. 17th, 2026 06:06 am
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[personal profile] abyss_valkyrie posting in [community profile] iconbattles


What a wonderful turn out! Thank you, everyone!
We had 7 makers and everyone made icons for the 10 themes. We got 70 wonderful icons from a nostalgic fandom and alternate icons too. The entries are made in order of submission.

70+ icons of Merlin! )

You can try using this format below for commenting or in any way you like:


You can also leave feedback in the original entries in the comments here too. All the comments are now unscreened.
[syndicated profile] daily_otter_feed

Posted by Daily Otter

Via Alaska SeaLife Center, which writes:

Frozen clam in an otter safe bowl makes great enrichment for Cali the sea otter pup!

Sea otters are one of the few known animals to use tools, and Cali is showing a bit of those instincts off here. Watch as she works her way to getting the ice treat out of the bowl, then uses the bowl to try to break apart the ice.

[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

An image of a VHS cassette with a label that reads FRIDAY VIDEOS Smart Bitches Ep. 21 against a pink crosshatch backgroundSome of you may remember this video, but back in 2010, I made a video at RWA National trying to capture the size and scope of the giant literacy signing.

It was massive, y’all. Thousands of people in a giant ballroom, tables in lines stretching into the distance, balloons and prize baskets and swag, and so many books. 

This was the first video I made. You’ll notice that my cell phone footage is terrible but, well, it looked good at the time!

 

I can’t tell you how floored I was that I had forgotten I’d made this, and I’m even more surprised that they’re still online (watch, this feature will kill them dead for good, lol).

But WAIT THERE’S MORE. I made another in 2011!

Watching both makes me so teary – there are people who aren’t with us anymore, authors who are no longer writing, and so many of us in a hot crowded ballroom raising thousands of dollars for literacy.

And it reminds me of what we lost, and how much I miss being in that room with everyone.

Thanks for taking a little trip down memory lane with me and my phone from 15 years ago, and Garage Band.

Friday Videos hope you have plenty of love, because it’s all you need.

Isn't It Punny.....

Apr. 17th, 2026 03:40 am
disneydream06: (Disney Funny)
[personal profile] disneydream06
April 17th.....


The Inventor Of The Throat

Lozenge Has Died...


There Will Be No Coffin

At His Funeral.

Just One Thing (17 April 2026)

Apr. 17th, 2026 08:48 am
nanila: me (Default)
[personal profile] nanila posting in [community profile] awesomeers
It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!
[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

The Edge of Space-Time
A | BN | K | AB
When you subscribed to this podcast, I bet you thought, “When is Sarah going to interview an expert on theoretical physics ?” Today is your day!

My guest is Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein author of the book The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.

And if you’re thinking, I was really bad at physics – don’t worry, so was I. I found this book to be both incredibly engaging and just the right amount of challenging. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is going to explain space-time, and how theoretical physics, Black feminist theory, Robert Frost, and the cosmos are all connected.

If you held your breath during the liftoff of Artemis II, and were crying when they splashed down safety, not to worry – so was I. I was extremely excited to interview Dr. Prescod-Weinstein, and the timing is perfect. We are in good hands.

NB: The transcript is already here! 

Listen to the podcast →
Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s

You can find the abstract for her work, “The Cosmos is a Black Aesthetic” at Duke University Press.

We also mentioned NASA’s image collection. 

And you can watch Dr. Prescod-Weinstein’s interview at Hot 97 on YouTube.

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

Thanks to our sponsors:

More ways to sponsor:

Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!


Podcast Sponsor

Support for this episode comes from The Awkward Agenda, an open-door romance featuring friends-to-lovers, found family, and pirate cosplay, from author Beth Morton.

Cali Barton is sick of playing a background character in her own life. Her plan to rock the world at her new job falls flat after she overhears her co-workers gossiping about her for being standoffish and her boss decides to coach her on her “approachability.” Turns out that for Cali, being quiet and thoughtful somehow translates to “wrong.”

Enter Simon Goldberg, her upstairs neighbor. While Cali spent her childhood flying under the radar, Simon’s Tourette syndrome taught him to roll with the punches. Simon believed he had made peace with his diagnosis. But when the company publishing his graphic novel wants him to go on tour to promote his work, Simon is panicked at the prospect. Television appearances? He’ll either make a fool of himself or become, ewww, an “inspiring story.”

When Simon comes across Cali, he offers to help her dismantle her social anxiety by taking her on a tour of the kind of awkward experiences she’s avoided. Helping her makes him realize just how closed off his own life has become, and having someone to laugh with makes opening up far easier. They learn to see one another for who they really are – but trusting themselves doesn’t come easy, and letting go is the hardest trick of all.

The Awkward Agenda has excellent averages on StoryGraph and Goodreads, and the reviews on Goodreads for this book are so thoughtful!

One reader wrote,

“There is something incredibly tender about watching two people decide—sometimes clumsily, sometimes bravely—to take up space in their own lives.

Simon’s idea of an “awkward agenda” — intentionally pushing Cali into situations she’d normally avoid — becomes the heartbeat of the story. But what makes this romance shine is that it’s never about fixing one another. It’s about witnessing.”

And one reader said, “I wish I had a bigger audience so I could tell more people about this book. It feels criminally under-reviewed. I’m really hoping it gets the attention it deserves, because it truly is fantastic.”

The Awkward Agenda by Beth Morton is available now digitally in Kindle Unlimited, and in print from retailers everywhere.

Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.

Challenge 202 - Voting

Apr. 16th, 2026 10:59 pm
luminousdaze: Legion. Oliver Bird, Astral Plane rap battle scene (Legion | Astral Plane sparkles)
[personal profile] luminousdaze posting in [community profile] iconthat
There were over seventy spectacular icons entered! Thank you very much to all fifteen participants!
Voter Guide
Anyone is welcome to vote.
Please choose your top favorite SIX (6) icons for the main placements and one each for the categories Best Color (Coloring), Best Image Crop & Best Composition.
Please don't vote for your own icons or ask others to vote for your icons.
Please try to vote for the best quality icons, not only for the fandoms or creators.
Important:
Please vote for a different icon for each of the categories (Color, Crop, Composition).
There is a checkbox & text answer combo poll, to change your votes, click the poll link.
Voting will be open for one week.
Thank you for voting!
If Imgur content is not available in your region, please try using Rimgo to view the icons. Sorry, I cannot make a screenshot of the icon table because there is a dim light on one side of my screen that may effect it.

🗳️ Voting 🗳️ )

Follow Friday 4-17-26

Apr. 17th, 2026 12:27 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith posting in [community profile] followfriday
Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Follow Friday 4-17-26: Merlin

Apr. 17th, 2026 12:11 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Merlin.

Read more... )

Spring Rains Saturate Michigan

Apr. 17th, 2026 04:01 am
[syndicated profile] earthobservatory_iod_feed

Posted by Lauren Dauphin

April 16, 2025
April 11, 2026
The Grand River in Michigan winds across a false-color image from east to west. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green.
The Grand River in Michigan winds across a false-color image from east to west. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green.
NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin
The Grand River in Michigan is wider than the previous year at the same time, swollen with floodwater. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green in this false-color image.
The Grand River in Michigan is wider than the previous year at the same time, swollen with floodwater. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green in this false-color image.
NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin
The Grand River in Michigan winds across a false-color image from east to west. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green.
The Grand River in Michigan winds across a false-color image from east to west. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green.
NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin
The Grand River in Michigan is wider than the previous year at the same time, swollen with floodwater. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green in this false-color image.
The Grand River in Michigan is wider than the previous year at the same time, swollen with floodwater. Water is dark blue, and vegetation appears in shades of green in this false-color image.
NASA Earth Observatory / Lauren Dauphin
April 16, 2025
April 11, 2026
The Grand River in Michigan flooded after above-average rainfall in March and April 2026 (right). A false-color image from April 11, 2026 (right), is compared with a view of the same location on April 16, 2025 (left). The 2025 and 2026 images were acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8 and Landsat 9, respectively.

The start of spring 2026 brought bouts of heavy rain to much of Michigan. Above-normal levels of precipitation in March and early April—exacerbated by snowmelt in the northern part of the state—saturated soils and caused damaging flooding along multiple rivers. A flood watch spanned the entirety of both the upper and lower peninsulas as rain continued to fall in mid-April.

Flooding along the Grand River—Michigan’s longest—near Grand Rapids is visible in the image above (right), acquired on April 11, 2026. For comparison, the left image shows the area the previous April. The images are false-color to better distinguish water from vegetation and other land cover.

At the time of the 2026 image, river gauge data showed the Grand River at Comstock Park was in minor flood stage. The river had crested on April 8 at about half a foot beneath the major flood level at this gauge, making it one of the harder-hit locations along the river. Water had already submerged roads and trails along its banks and encroached on homes, according to news reports, and more water was still to come. After another round of rain, the river was rising again as of April 16, with the potential to reach one of the highest levels on record in Grand Rapids.

The area has been beset by many weeks of soggy weather. Grand Rapids saw approximately double the normal March rainfall totals in 2026. In the first half of April, it received 5.79 inches (147 millimeters), exceeding the average for the entire month by nearly 2 inches.

The story is similar throughout the state. To the north, where an above-normal snowpack still covered the ground, abundant rainfall combined with melt to amplify flooding. Floodwaters in the northern Lower Peninsula washed out roads, including part of a scenic drive, and rendered airport runways unusable. The buildup of water has also stressed dams around the state. Officials have been monitoring several reservoirs that are close to overtopping and have advised some residents to prepare to evacuate.

NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

References & Resources

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The post Spring Rains Saturate Michigan appeared first on NASA Science.

Garden, Walk

Apr. 16th, 2026 08:51 pm
ranunculus: (Default)
[personal profile] ranunculus
Got the first summer squash plant planted today.Garden gossip )

M and I drove over to the gate to Duck Lake and took a short walk to look out over the landscape below Split Rock. There were flowers everywhere. The cows grazed this pasture hard this winter/early spring so there isn't as much grass hiding the flowers as there is on the rest of the Ranch. It is hard to photograph sheets of wildflowers like these Goldfields. Here are a couple of my attempts. 







postulate

Apr. 17th, 2026 01:00 am
[syndicated profile] merriamwebster_feed

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 17, 2026 is:

postulate • \PAHSS-chuh-layt\  • verb

Postulate is a formal word used to mean “to suggest something, such as an idea or theory, especially in order to start or continue a discussion.”

// Scientists have postulated the existence of water on the planet’s largest moon.

See the entry >

Examples:

“Based on their findings, researchers postulate that Homo sapiens reacted better to lead exposure evolutionarily than Neanderthals, a species that were close relatives to Homo sapiens and that went extinct around 40,000 years ago.” — Mason Leath, ABC News, 16 Oct. 2025

Did you know?

When you postulate an idea or theory you suggest that it is true especially for the purposes of an argument or discussion. The word postulate is mostly at home in formal and academic contexts, but don’t let that stop you from postulating, for example, that takeout for dinner makes sense given the cook’s delayed return home from work, or that a thunderstorm is imminent given the cumulonimbus building on the horizon. This “hypothesize” sense of postulate emerged in the early 18th century, but the verb first appeared in English centuries earlier in ecclesiastical contexts, as recorded in our Unabridged dictionary. To postulate someone, according to this sense of the word, was to request that a higher authority in the church sanction their promotion even though they would otherwise be disqualified by church rules or regulations.



Content notes for "Walnut Park"

Apr. 16th, 2026 09:44 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are the content notes for "Walnut Park."

Read more... )
med_cat: (Hourglass)
[personal profile] med_cat posting in [community profile] greatpoetry
For [personal profile] minoanmiss , in whose LJ I first saw this poem, several years ago:

A tribute, by Sabotabby


The Old Astronomer to his Pupil

Reach me down my Tycho Brahe, I would know him when we meet,
When I share my later science, sitting humbly at his feet;
He may know the law of all things, yet be ignorant of how
We are working to completion, working on from then to now.

Pray remember that I leave you all my theory complete,
Lacking only certain data for your adding, as is meet,
And remember men will scorn it, 'tis original and true,
And the obliquy of newness may fall bitterly on you.Read more... )

Here's an illustration by Charlie Bowater


"When You Were the Stars"

A Response to Sarah Williams' "The Old Astronomer to His Pupil"

You told me not to fear the dark-
that stars were born from deepest night,
and even death, you softly said,
was just a turning into light.

Your voice would echo through the dusk,
so calm, so sure, so infinite-
as if the sky itself leaned in
to listen what your soul had meant.I watched you trace Orion's belt... )

Location notes for "Walnut Park"

Apr. 16th, 2026 09:34 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are the location notes for "Walnut Park."

Read more... )

Poem: "Walnut Park"

Apr. 16th, 2026 09:08 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the March 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] fuzzyred and a conversation with [personal profile] dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Small Spaces" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the Broken Angels thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

Read more... )

Quantum Physics

Apr. 16th, 2026 08:00 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Graphene just defied a fundamental law of physics

In a major breakthrough, scientists have observed electrons in graphene flowing like a nearly frictionless liquid, defying a core law of physics. This exotic quantum state not only reveals new fundamental behavior but could also unlock powerful future technologies.


Natural laws cannot be broken. You just discover new versions or applications of them.

But yeah, graphene does some pretty amazing stunts.

Wednesday What I'm...

Apr. 16th, 2026 08:18 pm
reeby10: the lower half of a person laying on grass and reading with the words 'time to escape' and a ripped looking border (reading)
[personal profile] reeby10
Reading
  • I finished Mister Monday by Garth Nix (Keys to the Kingdom #1). Fun book! The coal mines part was really the only part of this series I remembered going in to it lol
  • I started reading Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix (Keys to the Kingdom #2). Enjoying it so far.
  • Ficwise, I've been reading VegasPete. Currently I'm on an HP AU called More Than He Bargained For by kerrikins and raelle that's pretty good so far. And very long, which is nice!
Watching
  • The roommate and I watched an episode of Running Man Thailand. This one was scifi and aliens themed and oh my god, the costumes! Loved Tay as one of the Planet of the Apes apes and TeeTee as a Vulcan especially.
  • The roommate and I finished watching Caged Again. It was something. I didn't really like it, not for any real reason in particular other than that I found the characters a bit boring and I just didn't feel interested in what was happening.
  • The roommate and I started rewatching We Are. One of my top five Thai BLs and I'm having a blast revisitng it :)
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Duang With You. Finally meet the family time! Very cute :)
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Only Friends: Dream On. The embezzlement storyline with Pete is very odd and I hope we actually find out more about why the fuck he did that. The cowboy costumes for the party were very funny as well.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the Love Upon a Time. Starting to get interesting with Nakhun remembering things from Klao's life! And everyone being super sus about it of course.
Listening
  • Was feeling the pop punk this past week and found a playlist to listen to. Really made me feel like I was back in hs lol
  • Have still been listening to a lot of t-pop. Particularly, this past week was a big holiday in Thailand (Songkran), and there were a ton of musical performances all week that I've been watching.
Writing
  • Wrote some more on the omegaverse ArmTae fic. I think I'm starting to see the finish line in view? Other than that I'm thinking about adding another scene. Of course.
Learning
  • Thai: Did some review of the symbols that I know so far. It's hard, but I actually really enjoy the flow of writing them. Also started watching some LYKN lyrics videos to try to help with listening/pronunciation. And also just so I can maybe sing along better when I see them in August!
  • WM: Did some article readings.

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