ckd | Network

So Laila spent some time at the grandparents over the weekend, which was good because I got a nasty cold that knocked me out most of the weekend. I had meant to spend it cleaning up some of the post-game content in Clair Obscur, but what actually happened is that I started dragging on Friday night, woke up Saturday morning and helped pass off Laila to Poppa and Nana. Then after lunch, with no energy, I thought "Oh I'll just go lie down for twenty minutes or so, then I'll feel better."

What happened is that I fell asleep for two hours and then when

sashagee checked, I had a fever. So I spent the next couple days recovering and not accomplishing any of things I wanted to get done while Laila was out of town, spent yesterday and today working from home, and now when my nose has finally stopped running my throat is hurting and it's not from too much coughing. Sigh.

That meme I saw was right. I did used to think I had a good immune system before I became an abba, but it was just that I didn't have anyone around who would roughly cough directly into my open mouth. Emoji Uncertain ~ face

Current Mood: sick
Current Music: Nothing

dorktower_feed

Posted by John Kovalic

https://www.dorktower.com/2026/02/06/original/

https://dorktower.kovalic.com/?p=19930

Most DORK TOWER strips are now available as signed, high-quality prints, 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!)

https://www.dorktower.com/2026/02/06/original/

https://dorktower.kovalic.com/?p=19930

ao3_news_feed

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34231

10 Million Users!

What do the country of Portugal, the city of Seoul, and the Archive of Our Own (AO3) have in common? They are all home to more than 10 million people! That's right: AO3 has surpassed 10 million registered users this month! We at the Organisation for Transformative Works (OTW) are delighted to share this incredible milestone with you.

Even as the community is growing year by year, the active exchange of creations and ideas between fans remains as a cornerstone of fan culture. Whether it's gifting each other fanfic, recording a podfic of your favorite story, or putting together a reclist of fics—no fandom thrives without the myriad ways fans share their passion with one another. In today's world, where ideas are just one more commodity, and content is curated for maximum revenue, it's more important than ever to appreciate and celebrate these aspects of fan spaces.

One way to let other fans know you appreciate the love and hard work they pour into their creations is commenting on their work. In celebration of this milestone, we have prepared a Bingo all about comments! Below you can find the bingo cards in both a square and vertical format.

10 Million AO3 Users Commenting Bingo 2026

You can fill out as many bingo squares as you want—the more comments, the merrier! Let us know on this post or on social media which Bingos you scored.

Happy commenting, and a huge thank you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone!

The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.

https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/34231

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/05/newborn-babies-can-anticipate-rhythm-in-music-researchers-find?utm_source=DamnInteresting

‘Part of our biological toolkit’: newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in music, researchers find (from theguardian.com)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/05/newborn-babies-can-anticipate-rhythm-in-music-researchers-find?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps' (from bbc.com)

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep?utm_source=DamnInteresting

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3204/

Staplers are actually in Pseudosuchia, making them more closely related to crocodiles than to dinosaurs.

https://xkcd.com/3204/

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.discovermagazine.com/static-electricity-shapes-everyday-life-but-its-origin-remains-shockingly-mysterious-48645?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Static Electricity Shapes Everyday Life — but Its Origin Remains Shockingly Mysterious (from discovermagazine.com)

https://www.discovermagazine.com/static-electricity-shapes-everyday-life-but-its-origin-remains-shockingly-mysterious-48645?utm_source=DamnInteresting

chickenfeet

https://operaramblings.blog/2026/02/06/silver-thread-at-met/

avivasedai

I knew that there was a lot of TV that I hadn't watched, that was excellent, and recommended by my friends, and right up my alley. Now, I'm browsing through all the Korean limited series shows that are also right up my alley, and they just keep on recommending more of them, and they look good... my "to view" list keeps growing.

Thank God I have a child and siblings and a community and friends to whom I am devoted, because it would be the easiest course of action to lose all outward connections and dive into the scripted universes, with their patterns of rising and failing and falling and tension and release and denouement. Out here: no denouement.

(This was meant to be quasi-funny, but I feel like it turned really not-funny the more I read it. Please take this lightly.)

damninteresting_link_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-crazy-dice-proof-fundamental-law.html?utm_source=DamnInteresting

A 'crazy' dice proof leads to a new understanding of a fundamental law of physics• (see also) (from phys.org)

https://phys.org/news/2026-02-crazy-dice-proof-fundamental-law.html?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

Volcanoes Should Be Cooking These Worms. Instead, They're Thriving. (from popularmechanics.com)

arlie

I am a paid subscriber to the Guardian. Thanks to the wonders of modern digital technology, I regularly find myself logged out from their website. Today I launched a number of tabs from their main page, and read a couple before they started demanding I log in to continue reading. After I logged into one tab, I had to do it again on every single remaining already open tab, though at least clicking on login was enough - I didn't have to provide account and password - though they did require a second click on a confirmation screen before I could read the article in that tab.

One of the tabs was In an era of frictionless digital experiences .... It was one of those requiring this annoying login friction. And I couldn't find any way to leave a comment about the inanity of the author's belief in frictionless digital, short of a formal letter to the editor.

In other news, Nextdoor has changed something about their spam messages such that I had to personally classify yesterday morning's message as spam. Hopefully that will shut them up again for a time.

On the good side, I'm enjoying setting up my Kubuntu system, and hopeful that most of the friction I'm experiencing is just learning curve, and any changes I make will result in things staying fixed.

But a large ugly raspberry to Steam, where I was reduced to searching a very large directory tree, looking for files containing a particular string, to find the files I needed to edit to take various games out of full screen mode, since they've broken the UI they used to have for doing this. That took a while, and was probably beyond the capabilities of anyone who didn't grow up on the command line with tools like find, xargs, and grep. (Maybe Kubuntu has a contents search GUI - IIRC, MacOS does - but if so I haven't found it.)

Also a small raspberry to Good Old Games, for reacting to changes in linux distros by making various games no longer available for linux, rather than either updating their dosbox packaging, or offering the old packages - or even the raw games - with a warning that you'll need to download and configure a recent dosbox yourself. (I salvaged my copies of the obsolete versions from a backup. And I'm not happy that GOG promises I can re-download any game I bought from their library, forever, but at this point to get those games I'd probably have to download them from a windows system.)

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/nearby-stars-massive-eruption-could-help-astronomers-unlock-secret-of-superflares?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Nearby star's massive eruption could help astronomers unlock secret of superflares (from space.com)

https://www.space.com/astronomy/stars/nearby-stars-massive-eruption-could-help-astronomers-unlock-secret-of-superflares?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

A Metal Detectorist Discovered a Medieval Seal With an 800-Year-Old Secret Message (from popularmechanics.com)

paulkincaid

Grateful to Ian Mond for this very flattering mention of Colourfields in Locus: https://locusmag.com/feature/the-year-in-review-2025-by-ian-mond/?fbclid=IwY2xjawPzB8tleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4VzNyeGtmSGIxQVN4REFKc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHlxPyJ74iLACqFCk4b5rJgP-0if_lAjpthTutTLzA2u6oFEPJ1pfDezaHYYZ_aem_xstLbDDv57Kq_YafMaYLrg

olivermoss

* There is now an easter egg on google.com if you search for Heated Rivalry. Rachel's reaction.

* There is going to be a Baldur's Gate 3 TV show! *thinks about this for three seconds* Yeah, there was talk of this when the game was blowing up and everyone agreed it would be a bad idea. Also, it's a continuation so it will be based on one of probably hundreds of possible end-game states and this show will be based on one of the popular ones. And

spoiler title

Astarian is going to be either dead, evil or unable to travel. His non-evil ending is staying in the Underdark because he becomes vulnerable to the sun again. Rather than a game that is about exploring the choices you like, popular or not, it will be tied to what will sell the best. One of the appeals of games is not being tied to that. Even if you would choose to be a male Tav romancing Shadowheart, you are still choosing it not being fed it.

lsanderson

ICE

‘You’re not going to investigate a federal officer’
It doesn’t happen often, but local law enforcement can arrest and charge federal agents. Legal experts say there’s a moral obligation to at least try to hold federal immigration officers accountable when they violate the Constitution and the law.
By Andy Mannix, Melissa Sanchez and Nicole Foy / ProPublica
https://www.minnpost.com/national/2026/02/youre-not-going-to-investigate-a-federal-officer/

Sahan Journal has the story of Minnesotans who have been transferred to ICE detention centers in Texas and released with no way to return home. “In recent weeks, lawyers have filed a flurry of successful court challenges compelling the government to release their clients, but that has left an increasing number of Minnesotans stranded outside detention facilities far from home,” they report. “In some cases, ICE has refused to return identification cards or work permits to those released from detention, attorneys say.”
https://sahanjournal.com/immigration/ice-detainees-stranded-after-release/

Man arrested in early-morning Minneapolis federal raid is charged with cyberstalking
The 6 a.m. raid, which involved at least 11 officers, took place at Eat Street Flats in the Whittier neighborhood. The man arrested doxxed a “pro-ICE individual,” according to a criminal complaint.
by Joey Peters
https://sahanjournal.com/public-safety/federal-raid-kyle-wagner-detained-whittier-minneapolis/ ( Read more... )

lotesse

If there was ever any doubt that the US Republican party are racists, let it end now.

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/05/bonobos-animal-behaviour-study-engage-make-believe?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Bonobos can play make-believe much like children, study suggests (from theguardian.com)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/feb/05/bonobos-animal-behaviour-study-engage-make-believe?utm_source=DamnInteresting

disneydream06

bookscorpion posting in

common_nature

I took a bunch of really nice photos of the crow army today - with the light reflecting from the snow, the details of their feathers come out so beautifully. Look at how blue/purple the big feathers are, edged by black, compared to the dark black of the smaller head feathers.

This is the boldest of them. He stayed juuuust out of arm's reach but didn't mind me kneeling down and stretching my arm out at him. He miiiight be Mr Roadside Pair but I don't think so, I think he is smaller.,,,

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/02/winners-2025-close-photographer-year/685891/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Winners of the 2025 Close-Up Photographer of the Year• Mirror (from theatlantic.com)

https://www.theatlantic.com/photography/2026/02/winners-2025-close-photographer-year/685891/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://daily.jstor.org/the-nineteenth-century-science-of-fashion/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The Nineteenth-Century Science of Fashion (from daily.jstor.org)

https://daily.jstor.org/the-nineteenth-century-science-of-fashion/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rexy9y3no?utm_source=DamnInteresting

'We had sex in a Chinese hotel, then found we had been broadcast to thousands' (from bbc.com)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rexy9y3no?utm_source=DamnInteresting

larryhammer

I’m an aloha shirt kind of guy. Not all of my wardrobe is brightly floral—I need a few more subdued patterns for less informal occasions, such as starting work in an office where I haven’t confirmed aloha is acceptable business casual wear. But a fair number are, most of them tasteful.

This is mostly by temperament—they signal (though let me asterisk that * ) a laid-back temperament, which is both true and helps me through interactions with strangers. Mostly, as there’s also a practical component. I’ve mentioned this a couple times, but I come across IRL as taller than I do online: I’m 6'4" / 193cm. Finding men’s short-sleeve shirts that are long enough for my torso to stay tucked in is a challenge. (Paradoxically, it’s easier with long-sleeve shirts, as “long” sizes is a thing for those.) Aloha shirts, however, are designed to not be tucked in, and indeed look worse that way. Win!

But then there’s that asterisk: * I’m graying enough, both hair and goatee (which last I’ve been keeping for two years now), that I can sometimes be misidentified as a Boomer, and a Boomer in an aloha shirt signals a different temperament than a younger guy in one. I’m lean enough I don’t entirely lean into that stereotype, but still. I’m older Gen X and … touchy … about being mistaken for a Boomer.

The goatee is starting to annoy me in other ways, anyway, so maybe shaving it will help—it has the most white. Or I could, yanno, suck it up and deal. Be laid-back. Just like the shirts claim.

---L.

Subject quote from We Can Work It Out, The Beatles.

hamsterwoman

dreamersdare is hosting a Stuff I Love – Top 10 Edition weekly challenge throughout February, with the first week being media one-shots.

I’m not going to try for a ranked top 10 for this or other weeks, because that way madness lies, but I did want to try to get to a list of 10 things I love that fit the challenge.

I pondered just a free-form list of one-shots of different mediums and genres, but eventually what coalesced is this: a list of standalone SFF fiction. One of the things I really love about SFF is the long series, the magical sagas, multi-volume explorations of worldbuilding, sometimes across real-world decades and in-universe millennia – your Tolkien Legendariums, your Earthseas, your Dragaeras, your Vokosigan Sagas. So it’s particularly notable when I enjoy a SFF standalone, which manages to pack that worldbuilding and that sensawunda into a single piece. Sometimes even quite a short one, because I included short stories, novellas, and novelettes in scope of this.

In no particular order, and selected by starting with a considerably longer list and picking things from it until I felt like I’d picked all the right ones.

( top 10 )

damninteresting_link_feed

https://nautil.us/the-farm-boy-who-found-pluto-1265718/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

The Farm Boy Who Found Pluto• (see also) (from nautil.us)

https://nautil.us/the-farm-boy-who-found-pluto-1265718/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.damninteresting.com/podcasts/2026-02-06-mummy-perfume/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

This week: Capturing smells, Mozart's killer, Lilliputian hallucinations, and more! (from damninteresting.com)

https://www.damninteresting.com/podcasts/2026-02-06-mummy-perfume/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historians-thought-this-rare-renaissance-portrait-by-one-of-the-first-famous-female-artists-was-lost-to-history-until-it-surfaced-in-north-carolina-180988120/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Historians Thought This Rare Renaissance Portrait by One of the First Famous Female Artists Was Lost to History—Until It Surfaced in North Carolina (from smithsonianmag.com)

damninteresting_link_feed

https://www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-microscopy-has-transformed-how-we-see-the-cellular-world-20260204/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

Expansion Microscopy Has Transformed How We See the Cellular World (from quantamagazine.org)

https://www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-microscopy-has-transformed-how-we-see-the-cellular-world-20260204/?utm_source=DamnInteresting

wildeabandon

I got my exam results yesterday, and they were slightly disappointing, in the "virtually anyone would be fucking delighted, but they were all on the low end of what I was expecting" sense of the word disappointing. I got 15/20 in Catechetics, 16/20 in Anthropology, 17/20 in Psalms & Prophets, and 18/20 in Hebrew II and Ugaritic. The first two are entirely understandable - I wasn't particularly keen on either course, and whilst by no means neglecting them completely, I didn't put in a particularly high level of effort. I'm happy enough with the 18s. They were both challenging courses, and 18 is a bloody good mark.

The one that's bugging me is the Psalms though. I thought I understood the material well, and that I'd had some interesting and insightful things to say. I know that I got 18/20 in the paper that makes up half the mark, which means that I only got 15-16/20 in the exam. Hardly the end of the world, but it's the only one where I don't understand why I didn't do better. I've emailed the prof to ask for feedback, so with luck I'll get something useful. (ETA: Apparently marks get rounded down, not up - I got 8/10 and 9/10 in the two exam questions, and the 8 was because he had to prompt me a couple of times, and since at least one of those time he prompted me for the thing I was about to say anyway I am now feeling a lot less bothered by the overall mark.)

One result though which is positive in a sense is that my overall grade is now almost guaranteed. My average is currently 87%. The top grade boundary is an average of 90%, which had seemed in reach before these results, but would now require me to get 20/20 in all but one of my remaining courses (and 19/20 in that), which isn't really plausible. The grade boundary below is an average of 85%, and whilst the fact that there are just more numbers between 0 and 87 than between 87 and 100 means that there's more scope for my grade to be dragged down than up, I would have to do quite a bit worse than I have been for that to happen. Anyway, the sense that there's not a lot that I can do to change my overall grade means that I can concentrate more on learning for the sake of learning, which in the long term is almost certainly better than chasing grades.

prettygoodword

arboricide (ah-BOR-i-said) - n., an herbicide intended to kill trees or shrubs; (rare) the killing of a tree.

Or as the OED puts it, "the wanton destruction of trees." In memory of the large pine that, until yesterday, stood between our house and the neighbor's, shading us from the southwest. Its destruction was not wanton, however, as it like all too many pines in our neighborhood was dying (bark beetles). Coined in the 1890s from Latin roots arbor, tree + -cidium, killing (from caedere, to cut/kill).

---L.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: awake

spiralsheep

Science! Always read the notes. Scientists hide all the funny stuff in the notes. From page 40 of 67 pages of notes, bottom of a long note 27 for chapter 8:
"In 1849, through exchange, Higgins gave the Yorkshire Museum 'fossil fishes from Lyme Regis'. Annual Report of the Council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for 1849, 20 (as well as donating a 'Turnip presenting a singular monstrosity of form' to the botany collections)."
Monstrous turnip! :D

Reading: on book 21. If anyone wants me to post a monthly list of my 4/5 and 5/5 books then please apply in writing to the management &c.

Friday Five:
( Q1-4. )

5. What does it take to make you happy?
The chain of tiny everyday pleasures: cozy bed, daylight, hot drinks that are absolutely perfect in their moment, truly soft comfy old clothes, whatever the plants are doing this week (e.g. mistletoe spheres high in bare branches), my birb neighbours (get out of my chimney you jackdaw b@$t@rd5! Note to self - get capping pot replaced), my human neighbours acknowledging each other but not intruding when in our shared spaces, the bus queue chats, &c.
Ecstatic joy is a wonderful bonus but I don't need it.

Current Location: Under the chimneypot of doom?

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

nilchance

tonight is the night for Eve of Vecna, the d&d game that's a continuation of our Curse of Strahd campaign, and this is a song I've been listening to and thinking of Tali the grave cleric:

Watch on YouTube

( rambling under the cut )

shewhomust

Against all precedent, my morning was brightened by an item on the Today programme.

Not only has a new prize been announced, which will give serious money each year to an artist to create a work somewhere in the UK that is free for the public to visit, the first award goes to Andy Goldsworthy.

devinwolfi posting in

fandomcalendar

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

reblogarythm

Te Deum
by Arvo Pärt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KTrQcxgYFk
i'm a little surprised to find an ECM recording on youtube. not complaining, mind you. but surprised.
via memory, going looking

Profile

blue shark of friendliness

January 2026

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Page Summary

dorchadas - Down with the Sickness
dorktower_feed - Originalist Sin – DORK TOWER 06.02.26
ao3_news_feed - AO3 Celebrates 10 Million Registered Users
damninteresting_link_feed - ‘Part of our biological toolkit’: newborn babies can anticipate rhythm in music, researchers find
damninteresting_link_feed - The forgotten medieval habit of 'two sleeps'
xkcd_feed - Dinosaurs And Non-Dinosaurs
damninteresting_link_feed - Static Electricity Shapes Everyday Life — but Its Origin Remains Shockingly Mysterious
chickenfeet - A cappella group Silver Thread at met United
avivasedai - Note to self: more movement, less couch.
damninteresting_link_feed - A 'crazy' dice proof leads to a new understanding of a fundamental law of physics
damninteresting_link_feed - Volcanoes Should Be Cooking These Worms. Instead, They're Thriving.
arlie - Frictionless Digital Experiences (sic)
damninteresting_link_feed - Nearby star's massive eruption could help astronomers unlock secret of superflares
damninteresting_link_feed - A Metal Detectorist Discovered a Medieval Seal With an 800-Year-Old Secret Message
paulkincaid - Locus
olivermoss - (no subject)
lsanderson - 2026.02.06
lotesse - (no subject)
damninteresting_link_feed - Bonobos can play make-believe much like children, study suggests
disneydream06 - Just Saying.....
bookscorpion in common_nature - Crow in the Snow
damninteresting_link_feed - Winners of the 2025 Close-Up Photographer of the Year
damninteresting_link_feed - The Nineteenth-Century Science of Fashion
damninteresting_link_feed - 'We had sex in a Chinese hotel, then found we had been broadcast to thousands'
larryhammer - “life is very short and there’s no time / for fussing and fighting my friend”
hamsterwoman - Stuff I Love: Standalones (SFF stories)
damninteresting_link_feed - The Farm Boy Who Found Pluto
damninteresting_link_feed - This week: Capturing smells, Mozart's killer, Lilliputian hallucinations, and more!
damninteresting_link_feed - Historians Thought This Rare Renaissance Portrait by One of the First Famous Female Artists Was Lost
damninteresting_link_feed - Expansion Microscopy Has Transformed How We See the Cellular World
wildeabandon - Exam results.
prettygoodword - arboricide
princessofgeeks - Metafilter on fanfic
spiralsheep - In which there are monstrous turnips (what, you want more than that?!)
princessofgeeks - Heated Rivalry rec
princessofgeeks - Heated Rivalry rec
nilchance - disorganized TTRPG musical flailing 34
shewhomust - ... a sea of stones that have been displaced by burials
devinwolfi in fandomcalendar - Multifandom: Be A Goldfish: A Multifandom Multimedia Microbang
reblogarythm - What I saw on the web on 2026.2.5

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