I FOUND OUT WHAT HAS BEEN EATING MY GARDEN

I became even more convinced it was a moose after discovering this morning that some of the remaining pea vines were decimated in the night, evidently from the tops. So I was out there this evening picking the rest of the broccoli (so far untouched) ...

And all of a sudden, with no warning, a GROUNDHOG exploded out of the broccoli plants at my feet. (Definitely a groundhog/woodchuck. Not a marmot, not a ground squirrel. A groundhog. We do have them in Alaska, and this isn't even the first one I've seen here, but it's certainly the first one I've caught in the act of SHAMELESS GARDEN BANDITRY.)

They're reddish colored and large, about the size of a big cat. I screamed, because I was not expecting LARGE MOVING THING IN THE BROCCOLI. I'd had no idea it was there. It spend past my feet and under one of the cars and vanished.

So the culprit has been identified, and it's definitely coming back every day now. They can dig and they can also climb (jerks), so building a groundhog-proof fence would be a heck of a job. I asked Orion for ideas. He asked me if I mind if he pepper-sprays my garden, because he has some expiring bear spray and he wants to find out what using it is like just in case he ever has to use it for real. I'm like, sure, why not. I gave him some guidelines (don't spray anything I plan to eat, lower leaves only, etc) and went into the house to be out of the literal line of fire.

Shortly I heard coughing and sneezing and he came into the house eventually to report that bear spray is highly volatile and prone to floating on the wind. Good to know. A few minutes later, *I* was coughing and sneezing too, because it turns out it also sticks around on clothing and skin. (I didn't get it nearly as bad as he did, just a coughing fit and some running sinuses, but COME ON.)

He has now thoroughly showered.

And that's the story of how we bear-sprayed ourselves while trying to bear-spray the garden.

(He reports that bear spray tastes like very spicy food. Apparently the active ingredient is capsaicin, so it's not toxic. I didn't get enough of it to actually taste it.)

I guess we're about to find out if groundhogs enjoy spicy food.

Inside out 2 , Our dating sim , The Mandalorian

( URLs )

Intro/FAQ
Days 1-15

zwei_hexen has graciously agreed to host us in August! (Thank you, sylvanwitch and ysilme!)

My check-in: Inspired by how much fun brithistorian has been having writing pomegaverse these last couple of days, I ditched my other projects and started on my Keep Fandom Weird bingo card. Someone's terrible horrible no good very bad day just got even worse. :-DDDDD

Day 28: china_shop, sanguinity

Day 27: badlyknitted, brithistorian, callmesandyk, carenejeans, china_shop, cornerofmadness, sanguinity, sylvanwitch, the_siobhan, trobadora, yasaman,

( more days )

When you check in, please use the most recent post and say what day(s) you’re checking in for. Remember you can drop in or out at any time, and let me know if I missed anyone!

I sent this post in memoriam Tom Lehrer to selkie, after which it hit me that the funniest part about Lehrer working for a born-secret agency was that he said as much in public. It's in the Revisited introduction to "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be" (1960): "Now if I may indulge in a bit of personal history, a few years ago I worked for a while at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. I had a job there as a spy. No . . . I guess you know that the staff out there at that time was composed almost exclusively of spies . . . of one persuasion or another . . ." It's a hit with the audience, who did not have a chance of knowing for another thirty-odd years that he meant it. What Lehrer actually did for the NSA still appears unconfirmed, but writing in the second edition of Quantum Profiles (1991/2020) his one-time fellow Harvardian Jeremy Bernstein guessed—the classical combination of mathematical skill and being an absolute weirdo—"probably codebreaking." I'd never thought about it and I'd believe it. That line run on the audience in MIT's Kresge Auditorium in 1959 is a cryptographer's joke: it works in its own right, but to get it properly requires a key. Jesus, can you imagine him and Leo Marks in a room together? It would have been an arms race which of them could be self-deprecatingly funnier without giving a thing they didn't want to away.

This entry will be open through the 31st. The August reccers post will hopefully go up some time on Friday.

Comment with the username you'll be using to rec and the category you want. Choose a category from the list below or select a more rare category that has been used in the past. If you want to rec a category that is not on the list below or in Memories, that's fine, too: you may volunteer for a category that isn't listed.

By signing up, you are committing yourself to reccing at least two (preferably four) stories in that category during the month of August. July reccers who wish to sign up again should rec their minimum two for this month before doing so. You don't have to check the Memories before choosing which stories to rec. If you have a good fic to rec, go for it! Do remember, though, that story links must be freely accessible, without requiring any sort of login to view. The FAQ and rec template, with detailed instructions, can be found here. Reccers may add self-recs once they have done their minimum two for their category of the month, and see more details at the FAQ entry.

You must be a member of stargateficrec in order to post. So if you're a new reccer, be sure to join the community.

( Common but not exclusive categories )

Remember: first come, first claimed!

A wild post appears!

( a purely personal update )

Color by COLOURlovers

palette colors

#dcebd0

#a6cfbf

#7d9697

#6c5e70

#804855

examples:

tinny vaporveil delacourtings fueschgast abyss_valkyrie


I chose this palette because the constant rain is getting on my nerves this month... let's hope the colors will lift my mood! :) Remember, you can (and are encouraged to!) always suggest color palettes for us to use HERE in the suggestion post!

-create 1-3 icons using the colors in the palettes.
-you do not have to use the exact colors, you can use similar colors, but using the exact shades makes it more fun/challenging.
-any and all fandoms are allowed (this includes stock).
-icons should be 100x100, 60kb or less.
-post your icons to the community as a new post. tag with round: ##, maker: username. an example post can be found here in the rules post.
-have fun!

Your icons are due by 11:59 p.m. EDT/EST on Sunday August 10! (countdown)

Recent spam email for a conference with initials which did not immediately decode for me:

ICGO is a boutique-style event that emphasizes depth and interaction. Modest in scale but rich in content, the conference’s intimate setting fosters close communication and meaningful dialogue. It encourages one-on-one and small-group discussions that often lead to lasting collaborations.

Takes me back to the dear old 1970s and the growth movement, what?

But then we discover

This esteemed gathering offers an exceptional opportunity for obstetricians, gynecologists, researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals to connect, share insights, and advance the field together.

One-on-one with gynaes is more reminding one of 70s soft pornos, hmmmm?

The conference is in

Athens, a city that blends ancient heritage with modern innovation, providing an inspiring backdrop for intellectual exchange. Its vibrant culture and Mediterranean charm will undoubtedly enrich your conference experience.

There is, apparently, a International Conference on Gynaecology and Obstetrics which holds ALOT of conferences in exotic places. I have managed to track down the details for a past occasion and discover - SURPRISE!!!! -

Travel
Due to limited budget resources, we regret to inform you that the conference is unable to sponsor or cover travel expenses for any participant, including speakers. We encourage speakers to make their own travel arrangements and plan accordingly.
Important Note
Please note that this conference is organized independently without sponsorship or support from any external organizations. The registration fees are primarily used to cover the cost of amenities and services provided to our registered members, including meals, snacks, sessions, networking opportunities, and other event-related activities.

The cherry on top of all this? -

We are pleased to offer honorariums to our esteemed keynote and invited speakers. To qualify for an honorarium, speakers must secure a minimum of 5 paid registrations or group paid registrations from their students, colleagues, or peers. The amount of the honorarium will be determined based on the number of registrations obtained. We encourage our speakers to actively promote the conference within their networks to ensure a rewarding experience for all.

Does this count as pyramid-selling?

Wotta racket, eh?

Show: SG-1, Leverage

Rec Category: Jack O'Neill
Characters:Pairings: none
Categories: gen, crossover, alphabet soup, mission gone awry, humor
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,138 (total, across 2 parts)
Author on DW: tallulah_rasa
Author's Website: AO3 Profile
Link: A is for... Another Day at the Office


Author's Summary:

Same old, same old.


Why This Must Be Read:

It's a crossover with Leverage! It's cute, fun and short... there are two parts, read them both. It will brighten up anyone's dreary day!



( snippet of fic )

The wall hanging actually arrived on Saturday and I promptly put it up. The white void is no longer and I noticed that right away. I've been sitting in my office for a couple of hours and no white void, no looming bookcase. Amazing! Awesome!

Happy birthday, thedivinegoat!

1. SOMETHING IS EATING MY GARDEN. I don't know what; my guess is either a) moose (we know there's a cow-calf pair hanging around; we've caught them occasionally on the driveway game camera), or b) a porcupine. Which would never have been on my radar as something that would eat a garden if I hadn't seen it in the backyard a week or two ago, absolutely going to town munching on raspberry bushes and fireweed. I feel like the way that the garden is getting decimated is consistent with something low to the ground that's pulling down pea vines and similar, and also doesn't eat too much in one go. But after we put up loose wire fencing around one of the beds, it apparently got into it anyway and ate a bunch of my lettuce and some of the remaining pea vines. Porcupines can both climb and dig, so it's possible a motivated one could get over loose fencing pretty easily - but the damage pattern this time could also have been something leaning over and eating from the top. I CAN'T TELL, but it is really annoying because it's taken out nearly all my peas and a bunch of the salad stuff. I picked some broccoli tonight even though I didn't need to use it yet, because my broccoli heads are just about fully crowned and I'm going to be incredibly annoyed if I wake up tomorrow to find that they've been devastated as well.

2. I got to pet puppies today! One of the people in my TTRPG game group has a dog (a Great Dane) that had puppies, ELEVEN of them - the 101 Dalmation jokes write themselves - and invited us over after gaming to pet them if we wanted to. They're about 3 weeks old, eyes open and toddling, but still potato shaped and incredibly soft and pleasant to hold. Puppies. <3 (I miss having a dog, although I don't want a Great Dane for a number of reasons. Handling someone else's puppies is delightful, though.)

3. Summer of Horror authors revealed, including my very unsurprising offering. I continue to be delighted with my deliciously spooky/romantic gift!

4. The Biggles prompt fest is also going delightfully.

Gukmu has done a cover, trad-style vocals, of what was released as an instrumental track called "Score Suite" on the KPop Demon Hunters OST. (I hope that's an accurate description---short though it be, I hesitated thrice while typing it. Haven't seen the film.) I think this unrelated clip has the film version, though since it's actually a chunk of the film as released, it may get C&D'd.

The Korean voice actors for Rumi, Mira, and Zoey have covered "Golden" as a trio, with a fairer distribution of lines: Shin Na-ri, Kim Do-young, and Kim Ye-rim, respectively.

Arden Cho, who voices Rumi's spoken words in the film's NorAm release, has teamed up with Cha Eun-woo, one of the rl inspirations for the character Jinu, to cover "Free." Cho's channel has also released ... an informal chat? Not sure what to call it; it's cute.

Billboard Korea has released a short interview (in Korean, with English subs) with several members of The Black Label, which produced some of the OST's songs. The group is a good example of the contemporary blurring of whether an entity (and its member individuals) is primarily diasporadic or peninsular.

ETA JTBC has now interviewed Ejae as well, which I link mostly because it has not only English and Korean subs but a Korean sign language interpreter.

I was sitting outside at work two weeks ago reading Zen Cho's Behind Frenemy Lines when our regular volunteer suddenly popped up next to me. "What are you reading?!" she demanded, and I blinked at her, and she said "I can't remember the last time I smiled as much reading a book as you were right now! Please tell me the title, I have to read it!"

So now you all know two things, which is that I have no poker face when reading in public and also that Behind Frenemy Lines is a delight. It's a particular delight to me because this book is a really fantastic, affectionately grounded example of bring-your-work-to-the-rom-com; my brother works in the same kind of big law firm as the protagonists and every word of it rang true. As soon as I was done I texted my long-suffering sister-in-law to tell her that she should read it immediately. (My brother should read it even more, but he will never have the time to do so, because, again, he works in big law.)

So, the plot: our heroine Kriya Rajasekar has just broken up with her long-term boyfriend and followed her boss to a new firm, which has unfortunately resulted in her sharing an office with the competent but deeply awkward lawyer whose presence throughout her career has coincidentally but unfortunately coincided with all the most screwball catastrophes in Kriya's career.

Charles Goh does not know that he is Kriya's bad-luck charm. Charles actually has kind of a crush. This is regrettable for Charles given that life has provided them with a couple of perfect reasons to fake date (Charles needs a date to his cousin's wedding and Kriya needs to fend off the increasingly inappropriate attentions of her recently-divorced boss) and also a good reason they should not real date (Kriya is busy fending off the increasingly inappropriate attentions of her recently-divorced boss and does not need romantic complications from her office-mate/fake boyfriend.)

As a sidenote, the cousin's wedding is a Fandom Wedding, the details of which I will not spoil but which are the other half of why I was laughing visibly out front of my office building (and which I did not explain to the volunteer.) I would not trust a lot of authors to write a Fandom Wedding, but this book carries it off with charm and ease. It really helps that the leads do not understand what is happening and do not really care except inasmuch as it's nice to see a person you like get married.

Of course everybody catches feelings, but also everybody also catches more serious ethical dilemmas, as the corruption case from The Friend Zone Experiment rebounds back into the plot and forces both Charles and Kriya to figure out where their professional lines actually are. I love where the characters make their respective stands, and where they end up; the stakes feel exactly right for the book, deeply grounded and deeply personal to the characters. It's so nice to pick up a Zen book, and know I can trust her to always be very funny but also to always make her books about something real.