Notices by BeeCycling (beecycling@romancelandia.club)

@mizblueprint @hellomiakoda In Sweden they have this thing they call Swedish death cleaning. As you get older you gradually get rid of stuff you're not using so it won't be a burden to your family when you pass on. And getting rid of it now, either to your kids or sold or donated, means it gets used, rather than sitting in an attic for twenty years and then getting chucked because it's damp/mouldy or just too out of date.

@Natasha_Jay Good for her. There are plenty of neutral ways to ask the same thing. Like "How do you protect your writing time against the other demands on your time?" It's an issue for all writers, whatever their situation, everybody is busy. There is no need for that old sexist way of asking it.

@ColesStreetPothole It seems the people who accuse leftists of having Trump Derangement Syndrome are developing a touch of Mamdani Derangement Syndrome, going by the barking mad stuff they post about him and what he's supposedly going to do if elected.

@cstross @ColesStreetPothole I was just thinking earlier that the reason they're frothing about the ludicrous idea that he's going to introduce Sharia law and similar batshittery is that they assume anyone who has a religious faith wants to force everyone else to follow the rules of that faith - because that's exactly what they want to do with theirs. They can't conceive of there being people who don't think like them.

@paninid I reckon we'll get to Mars at some point reasonably soon, and maybe even make a permanent base there a while after that. But it will be like the bases at the south pole. They're somewhere you go to stay for a while and do scientific research, or work in a support capacity. But you don't emigrate there and start having babies.

While I love to post pics of red pandas, I think it's important that we remember that binturongs also exist, smell like popcorn, and look like they just slept in a ditch after a week long bender.

@RamenCatholic Crochet. All you need to do to try it out is one crochet hook and a ball of yarn. And I already had a crochet hook in a sewing kit I had, so only had to get some yarn. You can learn from YouTube videos. There are lots of free patterns out there. So it's a very low cost entry.

There are other things to buy later if you get into it - different hook sizes, stitch markers, and other bits and bobs, and of course mountains of yarn, patterns, books, whatever.

The three surviving lynx of the group of four that were illegally released in Scotland earlier this year have now moved to a permanent home at Highland Wildlife Park, after being quarantined at Edinburgh Zoo for a few months. The three, all female, are doing well. They're already tame and used to humans, so apparently settling in easily. The park is raising money through a prize draw for the chance to name one of them. At the moment they're just being called A, B and C.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd624d1nz8po

Psst - you want some free books? My publisher JMS books is offering over 100 free LGBTQ+ romance books for a week. Includes my M/M sci-fi novel Bring Me the Dead.

Check them out here!

https://www.jms-books.com/free-ebook-week-c-617/

Always be careful on the stairs. #CatsOfMastodon

@selzero When the day finally comes that Twitter closes forever, and people must decide what was the best Tweet of all time, the "I never thought leopards would eat my face" one may well be the winner. Not just for itself, but for how it had such an impact, to the point it's inspired stuff like this video, and crystallises a whole phenomenon of people realising they've voted against their own best interests in order to hurt other people. Perfection.

The ambassador from Heard Island sets out to Washington DC to discuss the tariffs.
#tarrifs

I'm still trying to figure out if this was an April Fool gag or not. It was posted on April 1st, but on the other hand they clearly did the test, it's on the video, which is very fun to watch.

And now I really want a Tunnocks Tea Cake.

Cold War calamity: Did Tunnock's Tea Cakes deserve their V-bomber ban?

https://www.forcesnews.com/services/raf/cold-war-calamity-did-tunnocks-tea-cakes-deserve-their-v-bomber-ban

R.I.P. James Harrison, Australian hero, whose blood contained a rare antibody used to create medication to protect babies from a rare blood disorder. Having the antibody was just luck. What made him a hero was donating plasma every two weeks without missing one appointment for 60+ years. There's power in just reliably showing up for other people who need what only you can give them.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y4xqe60gyo

@theamazingjaper There is talk that Thunderbolts is more like the prime MCU run of movies, and hasn't been re-shot, re-edited and re-written into wallpaper paste like this one apparently was. Well, we'll see. If that doesn't do well then maybe they should just give it up. They had a good run until Endgame.

Just booked to go see Adrian Tchaikovsky do an author event in Waterstones in Newcastle in March, for his new book, Shroud, that comes out later this month. Excited!!

@kaia Her face definitely says "get a job, hippies."

@cstross Definitely. Just wanted to mention the printer dots too, because most people don't know about them, and think that something printed out and distributed on paper can't be traced back to or linked to them. It absolutely can.

@cstross It's also important that people know that most printers print a code on their output that traces the printout back to that specific printer. It's usually in pale, unobtrusive yellow dots. (This is why your printer wants you to replace the colour cartridge even if you're just trying to print in black.) Created ostensibly to trace printers being used to counterfeit currency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printer_tracking_dots

@stevetex I just watched the awkward moment when Trump moves in to kiss her on the cheek, but only managed to get air, even though she bent her head towards him. She chose such a broad brim for a reason. 😏