ysobel: (fail)
masquerading as a man with a reason ([personal profile] ysobel) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2025-07-10 12:45 pm
Entry tags:

More for the letter than the answer

Dear Eric: I am 40 and physically disabled. I need a powered wheelchair to get around both outside and inside my apartment. Recently, my tires were popped by some broken glass from a bottle thrown out of a passing car onto the sidewalk. It has been a week since I have been able to use my wheelchair, and I have another 20 days before my new tires arrive.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be infuriated that someone’s litter caused me to spend $200 on replacement tires.

My caregiver disagrees. He says that it’s my fault for continuing and not turning around. He also said that I am overreacting, when the most I have done is complain a little bit for maybe an hour total and make a joking “whoever threw the bottle on the sidewalk owes me $200” comment once.

Am I being too sensitive about this? I think being upset about having to spend $200 that I don’t have to replace something necessary for my continued function in and outside of my apartment due to litter is understandable, but I would like to ask for your thoughts on the matter to be sure.

— Tire’d


Tire’d: Let me get this straight. Your caregiver, who understands the challenges you face navigating a world that is often not accommodating, thinks that you don’t have the right to be peeved about this? Litter, particularly broken glass, is a problem for everyone and any one of us could and should be upset about having to navigate a sidewalk strewn with jagged pieces, even if it didn’t cost us $200 or a temporary restriction in mobility.

What happened wasn’t fair and it had a greater impact on you than it would on someone who could just step to the side or crunch the glass under a boot. Your caregiver needs to acknowledge that some things in the world affect you differently. This is what empathy is. One doesn’t need firsthand experience to be empathetic, but in this case he has to be able to see how hard this one battle has made your life.

I hope that this is an isolated incident in your relationship and he’s able to be supportive in other ways. Because care is about more than physical assistance. It’s also about being willing to say, “I see you. I hear you. What you’re feeling is valid.”
laridian: (Default)
laridian ([personal profile] laridian) wrote2025-07-10 02:29 pm

It's Not a Typical Animal, Chapter 4


It's Not a Typical Animal (3270 words) by laridian
Chapters: 4/9
Fandom: Fallout 76
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Beckett (Fallout 76)
Additional Tags: Art
Series: Part 4 of The Accidental Raider
Summary: When a thrill ride at Nuka-World On Tour goes awry, it awakes a monster from the depths. It goes on a rampage, and it appears nothing can stop it.
Accidental Raider Rowan Dane has something of a "Disney Princess" way with animals. But will that work on an ultracite titan?

This chapter: Willow was swept into the crater, down into the bowels of the earth by a landslide of mine tailings, while trying to look for survivors. He couldn't have survived that...

Anime Feminist ([syndicated profile] anifem_feed) wrote2025-07-10 06:00 pm

Nyaight of the Living Cat – Episode 1

Posted by Cy Catwell

This premiere injects a healthy does of fun into what easily could have been a too silly premiere, resulting in one of the season's strongest debuts and also, another fear on my list: kitty-pocalypse!

The post Nyaight of the Living Cat – Episode 1 appeared first on Anime Feminist.

File 770 ([syndicated profile] file770_feed) wrote2025-07-10 05:39 pm

2025 Prometheus Best Novel and Hall of Fame Winners

Posted by Mike Glyer

The Libertarian Futurist Society has announced the Best Novel and Hall of Fame for Best Classic Fiction Prometheus Award winners for 2025. THE PROMETHEUS AWARD FOR BEST NOVEL In the Belly of the Whale by Michael Flynn has won the 2025 Prometheus Award … Continue reading
File 770 ([syndicated profile] file770_feed) wrote2025-07-10 05:11 pm

Seattle Worldcon 2025 Program Schedule Is Live

Posted by Mike Glyer

Seattle Worldcon 2025 today released its Program Schedule of panels and events spanning August 13-17 and featuring over 800 panelists. Plus a mobile app is available — Guidebook – which fans can download and use to build a personalized schedule. … Continue reading
Anime Feminist ([syndicated profile] anifem_feed) wrote2025-07-10 04:00 pm
kevin_standlee: (Lisa)
kevin_standlee ([personal profile] kevin_standlee) wrote2025-07-10 08:29 am
Entry tags:

Dispatch from Munich

According to FlightTracker, Lisa's flight DEN-MUC landed about the time I got up this morning to start working on the Day Jobbe. A few hours later, she called me from her apartment (long-stay hotel), having managed to make her way there from the airport. (On her past trip, she arrived in Munich by train and left by heading north toward Norway by train, so she'd never actually been at Munich airport.) To her relief, the room has a wired internet connection like the one in which she stayed there last year. (It's actually the same exact room layout and location as last year, just on a different floor.) This meant she could connect her internet phone and thus can call me at no extra charge. She told me she'd go out and get groceries (she knows where the nearest Aldi Sud) is, try to stay up a little longer, then get some much-needed sleep. She wasn't able to sleep on the plane because both seats next to her filled, and worse, the couple sitting in those seats coughed the whole way from Denver to Munich. Lisa, naturally, stayed masked up with one of her N95 masks, as I will do on my flight to London tomorrow.
lsanderson: (Default)
lsanderson ([personal profile] lsanderson) wrote2025-07-10 08:14 am

2025.07.10

Redrawing Texas: the Republican plan to stack the decks for the midterms
Tyler Hicks
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/10/texas-republican-redistricting-maps

The CEO who never was: how Linda Yaccarino was set up to fail at Elon Musk’s X
Ex-NBC executive was tasked with building an ‘everything app’, but billionaire owner was biggest obstacle in her path
Johana Bhuiyan and Nick Robins-Early
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jul/10/linda-yaccarino-resigns-x-elon-musk

Trump announces 50% tariff on Brazil, citing a ‘witch-hunt’ against Bolsonaro
Latest threats heighten fears that the president’s erratic trade strategy risks exacerbating inflation across the US
Callum Jones in New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/09/trump-tariffs-brunei-libya-moldova Read more... )
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-07-10 08:53 am
Entry tags:

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow



Desperate to pay her brother Jasper's way out of Muhlenberg County, Opal accepts a job at an infamously cursed mansion.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Omniglot Blog ([syndicated profile] omniglot_feed) wrote2025-07-10 12:09 pm

Pie in the Sky

Posted by Simon

If something is unlikely to happen, you might say that it’s just pie in the sky. Have you ever wondered where this expression comes from? Let’s find out.

Blueberry Pie In The Sky

Pie in the sky refers to:

  • a fanciful notion
  • an unrealistic or ludicrous concept
  • the illusory promise of a desired outcome that is unlikely to happen.

It first appeared in a song called The Preacher and the Slave written and published in 1911 by Joe Hill (1879–1915), a Swedish-American labour activist and songwriter. He wrote it as a parody of a Salvation Army hymn In the Sweet By-and-By, which was published in 1868. It is a criticism of the Salvation Army’s focus on future salvation rather than on present deprivations [source].

The phrase appears in the chorus of the song, which goes something like this:

You will eat bye and bye
In that glorious land above the sky
Work and pray live on hay
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die

You can hear this song sung by Utah Phillips here:

More details of this song and pie in the sky:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Preacher_and_the_Slave
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/pie-in-the-sky.html

Here’s a song I wrote recently based on this phrase, called Pie In The Sky:

If you fly up high
and open your eyes
you might just spy
some pie in the sky

At the end of the rainbow
you might just find
a pretty pot of gold
or so I’ve been told

If you search here and there
and everywhere
you might just snare
a castle in the air

Whatever you seek
Wherever you peek
You might just see
something unique

So open your eyes
and your ears and your mind
cause you never know
what you might find
cause you never know
what you might find

Other phrases that refer to fanciful notions or things that are unlikely to happen include: castle(s) in the air, eggs in moonshine, jam tomorrow, pipe dreams and the cake is a lie in English [source].

In French you might talk about une promesse en l’air (an empty promise, lit. “a promise in the air”), un château en Espagne (a castle in Spain), or des paroles en l’air (empty words, lit. “words in the air”) [source].

In German you might refer to Zukunftsmusik (future music), ein Luftschloss (a castle in the air), or das Blaue vom Himmel (the blue of the sky) [source].

In Welsh it’s breuddwyd gwrach (a witch’s dream) [source], in Irish you might talk about caisleáin óir (golden castles) [source], and in Swahili you could mention raha ya mbinguni (heavenly bliss) or ndoto za mchana (daydreams) [source].

What about in other languages?

The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com




kevin_standlee: (Kevin and Lisa)
kevin_standlee ([personal profile] kevin_standlee) wrote2025-07-09 08:22 pm
Entry tags:

To the Airport

This morning around 10:30 AM, I took Kuma Bear and Lisa in to Reno Airport to catch her flight to Denver continuing on to Munich for her European Rail Adventure. This was the first time I'd ever parked in the short-term garage at RNO.

Her flight was scheduled for 1:30 PM, and we got there a bit after 11:30 AM. We'd upgraded the first leg of the flight to first class because it was a bargain, getting her through the express check-in and also a faster Terrorization queue. The new rules on not having to take off your shoes are in effect here. I stayed with her as far as the security checkpoint, then waited here to make sure nothing went awry. They needed to go through her bag, which took a while, but eventually she got everything put back together, waved goodbye, and headed off to find her gate.

Because of a previous unfortunate experience with a train trip, it seemed prudent for me to stay at the airport until her flight departed. I therefore had lunch at the only ground-side restaurant at the airport. While I was there, she called me. (We got her a flip phone; the same model as I have.) No serious issues, although she did cut her hand somehow while repacking her bag. (One of the airport staff gave her a bandage.) I slowly ate lunch, and by the time I was finished, her flight was boarding, and I decided it was safe enough to leave.

When I got home, I did need to get back to the Day Jobbe, but the accumulated fatigue had caught up to me and I simply had to get a nap. Before doing so, I used FlightTracker to check on her flight. By then, she was out over Utah somewhere on her way to Denver. I got about a 90 minute nap, when she called me from Denver to let me know that everything went fine and that she was at the gate for her flight to Munich. From our previous checks, we know that there were a pretty good number of empty seats, and that the middle seat next to her was empty. I won't know until she gets to Germany, but I reckon there's a decent chance that she'll get at least an empty seat next to her and maybe even the entire group of three seats, if the person in that third seat in her row jumps to one of the other empty areas. I hope so; that way Kuma Bear can have his own seat.

Returning to the Day Jobbe, I worked for a few more hours before calling it a day. I need to get more sleep!
nnozomi: (Default)
nnozomi ([personal profile] nnozomi) wrote in [community profile] guardian_learning2025-07-09 10:42 pm

第四年第一百八十一天

部首
卩 part 1 jié
卫, hygiene/to protect; 印, to print/to engrave; 危, danger; 即, immediately pinyin )
https://www.mdbg.net/chinese/dictionary?cdqrad=26

语法
Using 吧 and 吗
https://www.chineseboost.com/grammar/

词汇
围, to enclose; 范围, range; 周围, around pinyin )
https://mandarinbean.com/new-hsk-3-word-list/

Guardian:
正当防卫, justified self-defense
没事吧, are you okay? [my candidate for “most commonly spoken line in cdramas”]
我可以确定这些乱线的根源仍然是围绕着圣器围绕着烛九他们一帮人, but I can be sure that the source of these crossed wires surrounds the Holy Tools and Zhu Jiu and his hangers-on.

Me:
打印机又坏了,破机器!
别太围绕,给人空间。
File 770 ([syndicated profile] file770_feed) wrote2025-07-10 01:30 am

Pixel Scroll 7/9/25 In A Scroll In The File, There Ticked A Pixel

Posted by Mike Glyer

(1) YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN. [Item by SF Concatenation’s Jonathan Cowie.] Monday saw me travel 35 miles into and out of London to Radlett in the leafy country of Hertfordshire for a small reunion of my former college SF … Continue reading
ysobel: A man wielding a kitchen knife and making an adorable yelling face (rage)
masquerading as a man with a reason ([personal profile] ysobel) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2025-07-09 05:07 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Dear Miss Manners: I prepared some hand-dipped chocolate goodies and delivered them to a couple of ladies in my neighborhood. A few days later, one of the ladies called me to tell me she was diabetic and couldn’t eat them.

I was sad that “the thought that counts” must not come into play anymore. I felt her phone call was rude and unnecessary.

Am I being petty, or was she being rude? It will make me think twice next time I try to be thoughtful. This friend certainly won’t see goodies from me again.


Then you will not want to hear that this lady spent the intervening time fuming over the thoughtlessness displayed in putting her health at risk — as if, instead of trying to brighten her day, you had attempted to force-feed her.

Miss Manners recommends saying, “I’m sorry to hear that. Thanks for letting me know” — and then tossing the conversation in the memory dustbin and, as was your plan, not repeating the gesture. This is also an approximation of what Miss Manners would have counseled the lady with diabetes, had she been asked.
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
kaberett ([personal profile] kaberett) wrote2025-07-09 11:58 pm

today I have mostly been at the plot

I had a first-thing physio appointment, so I dragged myself over to the hospital for that and then nestled down in my Surrounded By Green and... mostly read Murderbot, with occasional fruit harvest and weeding.

(I have also had lots of opportunities to practise self-compassion, both in re the number of things I did not manage to harvest before they went over and in terms of having realised within the last half hour or so that one of my pens has vanished from all of the bags it was nominally in; I hope that if I go and poke around the table etc tomorrow it will rematerialise...)

Anime Feminist ([syndicated profile] anifem_feed) wrote2025-07-09 08:08 pm

Weekly Round-Up, 2-8 July 2025: Women in Death Stranding, Sugar Sugar Rune Anime, and Ouji Fashion

Posted by Anime Feminist

AniFem Round-Up Detectives These Days Are Crazy! – Episode 1 It’s playing on a particular fantasy: a man yearning for his adolescent glory days feels he’s over the hill, but a hot young girl pulls him out of his slump and put his fractured ego back together. Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show – Episode […]

The post Weekly Round-Up, 2-8 July 2025: Women in Death Stranding, Sugar Sugar Rune Anime, and Ouji Fashion appeared first on Anime Feminist.

Dork Tower ([syndicated profile] dorktower_feed) wrote2025-07-09 05:00 am

Krypto Currency – DORK TOWER 09.07.25

Posted by John Kovalic

With thanks to my pal Dan Taylor for the inspiration!

This or any DORK TOWER strip is now available as a signed, high-quality print, from just $25!  CLICK HERE to find out more!

HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)

File 770 ([syndicated profile] file770_feed) wrote2025-07-09 07:59 pm

2025 Tähtifantasia Award

Posted by Mike Glyer

The Helsinki Science Fiction Society has announced the winner of the 2025 Tähtifantasia Award, given for the best fantasy book published in Finnish during the previous year. The English version of the award citation says: Anna In the Tombs of the … Continue reading