Notices by Sean Bala (seanbala@mas.to)

@notjustbikes @Ryan

I remember reading Jane Jacob’s Dark Age Ahead and being shocked that technically in Canada, only the federal and provincial governments exist constitutionally. Municipalities are only at the sufferance of their provincial governments who can add and take powers away anytime.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@standardebooks/117084357336350778

R.U.R is an amazing play. One of the best uses of creeping dread / doom I have read in literature. Worth reading - and in the public domain thanks to @standardebooks

#Books #Bookstodon #Theatre #Theater #Drama #scifi #ScienceFiction #SFF #Capek #KarelCapek #Robot #Robots

RE: https://mstdn.games/@FullyAutomatedRPG/117083807919404587

Invented by Hiroshi Sato? 🤔

#Korra #ATLA #LegendofKorra #Avatar #TheLastAirbender #LegendofAang

@skinnylatte I know it is not quite a porcupine but if you ever are at a public library and find this kid’s book, take a look. One of the only times I laughed aloud really hard at the library - https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Piggypine/Richard-T-Morris/9781665925303

@susankayequinn Maybe they were supervillains who transitioned to something more profitable? I mean, Nokia started as a rubber boot company….

RE: https://mastodon.social/@bunvoyage17/117066880506164066

First post on our family account in a long time. Had a great evening on Friday downtown with some friends we had not seen in a while. We have not been downtown this late in a long time and I forgot how beautiful the city is at night ❤️

#Chicago #Illinois #Midwest #Night #Friday #Music #ClassicalMusic #City #Urban

@skinnylatte This thread is reminding me of the song “Let’s Do it For Our Country” from the so-bad-it-is-good musical “Grease 2” - a teenager tries to lose his virginity by luring his girlfriend to a fallout shelter and faking a nuclear attack.

https://youtu.be/gJOTKR6LpYE

Sleep with me because civilization is being destroyed? Maybe this could be the theme song of all these Western Civ defenders….

FediGardeners. I need some help. This is happening to my tomato plants. These are Audrey's Love and are being grown in a pot. It has only been happening with fruit that is unripe but more mature. I am also noticing this leaf curling on some of the lower leaves. I originally thought it was inconsistent watering but I am not sure. Thoughts?

#Garden #Gardening #Vegetables #Tomatoes #Midwest #Chicago

@susankayequinn @darrowerin

Yeah. What I fear most is the loss of trust, which I think so essential in general but for writing in particular.

@darrowerin I did not see this comment until @susankayequinn posted about it today. Crazy that ilthe suspeccted author seems to be the same pseudonym.

@susankayequinn

This is exactly what happened to Solarpunk Magazine - same suspected author!

https://mas.to/@seanbala/116935911927364127

What we know as mitarashi dango originated at the Kamo Mitarashi Chaya 'Tea House' (加茂みたらし茶屋), situated to the west of the shrine grounds.

It became tradition at Shimogamo-jinja to symbolically offer dumplings to the gods before eating them for luck.
#Kyoto #みたらし茶屋

Playing with a mushroom motif for today's #inkyDays drawing. I also made some small test prints with a penguin motif I carved out today. I'm thinking about sending some of these out to my sticker club supporters. I may even bring some to the Maker Faire in September.

Here's an in-progress shot. The rest is now posted on this month's Patreon and Ko-fi posts: https://www.patreon.com/KristinHenry/posts/inkydays-august-165503193
https://ko-fi.com/Post/InkyDays-August-2026-F5N024AZG7

#ink #drawing #art #mushrooms #fungi #MakerFaire #wip

@ez One of my favorite posts I’ve made here 😂

https://mas.to/@seanbala/113844068108166534

When you look just right, everything could be a perogi...

And here is the original poll from @evan as a reference.

https://cosocial.ca/@evan/117010582813441185

4/4

And a write up by the podcast host in the Chicago Sun-Times

https://chicago.suntimes.com/food-and-restaurants/2024/03/21/apple-slices-forgotten-pastry-history-dessert-dobra-bielinski-delightful-pastries

3/3

An episode of the great podcast "Curious City" by WBEZ Public Radio

https://www.wbez.org/curious-city/2025/09/03/apple-slices-what-happened-to-the-once-popular-midwest-pastry

2/n

Appropo of the recent poll by @evan about regional and city cuisines, I got to encounter a rare Chicago sweet in the wild yesterday. Apple Slices is a Midwest style apple pie made on big sheet and cut into cake slices. It was pretty popular in the 1950s and 60s but is now only made by a handful of bakeries in the area. This one is from Bennison's Bakery in Evanston. Funnily enough, the people at the counter did not know it was something unusual.

My verdict? Not bad. A bit too sweet for me but it definately scratches an itch.

A few references about Apple Slices in the comments below.

1/n

#Chicago #Illinois #Midwest #Bakery #Pastry #MardiPatisserie #Evanston #Chicagoland #City #Travel

@reverendref How did it go?!

@jpaskaruk @evan

Thanks for the explain at. No, it was a genuine question on my part. Again, I'm not extremely technical or in the weeds on the protocols. My impression is that ATProto way over sells its benefits. But I was just trying to wrap my head around how they would be different in actual implementation.