Weekly Reading

Jul. 12th, 2025 05:49 pm
torachan: onoda sakamichi from yowamushi pedal with a huge smile (onoda smile)
[personal profile] torachan
Currently Reading
A Slash of Emerald
82%. Second in the Dr Julia Lewis mystery series. It's been a while since the first one and tbh I've been reading/listening to so many historical murder series that they start to blend together a bit so I don't entirely remember the first one (though I did give it four stars so I clearly liked it) but I feel like I'm enjoying this one even more than the first? It's definitely good.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
4%. Title is self-explanatory. Just started but it seems like an interesting topic!

Kill Her Twice
6%. YA murder mystery set in 1930s LA Chinatown. So far so good, but I've only just gotten started.

Just Happy to Be Here
26%.

Sister Outsider
32%.

Recently Finished
Riding the Rails
This was good! Felt a little repetitive and the best parts were short chapters that focused on individuals rather than the longer chapters that were supposedly organized by topic but kind of wandered a bit.

Murder at the Patel Motel
I really liked this a lot. It looks like the other books the author has written are middle grade and I'm going to check them out, but I hope he does some more mysteries because this was a lot of fun.

Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy
New Murderbot short story. It's available free here. This is set after the most recent book and is about ART and crew. I enjoyed it.

Astronautical!
Cute middle grade graphic novel set in a universe where a planet has broken apart into little bits and one can travel between the chunks in boats. Things like gravity and oxygen are hand-waved and it's very vibes-based and ultimately a little too silly for me, but it was cute.

Koyubi-sensei no Reiteki Sakusen
New manga by Uguisu Sachiko. This is a single volume collection of what were originally one-shots, so although they have the same characters, there's not really any plot arc. I've read (and scanlated) a couple of the stories but the rest were new to me. I like all her stuff and this was no exception.

Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri vol. 17
This really feels like it's wrapping up. There was an announcement for the next volume in the back and it was listed as volume 18 rather than final volume, but I would be surprised if it went more than another volume or two after that. tbh I'm fine with that. I've enjoyed the series but I liked it more before it developed an over-arching plot. (My same complaint with Katekyo Hitman Reborn, which also started as a gag manga and evolved into something with silly elements but overall more serious.)

Mission! vol. 4

Saint Young Men vol. 21
olivermoss: (Default)
[personal profile] olivermoss


I am 98% of the way through my character conversions. I still need to note errata that has come out since for my character. See that full sheet of paper nearest the camera? That is most of what should go into one tiny square on my character sheet, but obvs it wont fit so I made a reference sheet. When I took the picture I hadn't realized I'd missed a few things.

Not shown: multiple tracker sheets for things like milestone leveling

And that is just me working on Alec. Tristan wasn't quiet as bad, but I still need to finish one of his reference sheets. Alec is my Leyfarers main, but Tristan is my alt so I can put off finishing him. So many rules changed for my main. Like, he still has Favored Enemy, but those words point to a completely different game mechanic than they did in the old rules. Ditto Stonecunning, ditto a lot of stuff.

This is why I am unlikely to write The Gang Plays D&D for most canons, but The Gang Gets Pulled Into a Let's Play For Charity has a lot of potential

Saturday Morning Exchange: My Gift

Jul. 12th, 2025 06:40 pm
senmut: Upper Torso shot of Slade Wilson from Justice League Crisis movie (Cartoons: DCAU Slade)
[personal profile] senmut
New Home (571 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Aristocats (1970)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Duchess/Thomas O'Malley, Berlioz & Marie & Toulouse (Disney: Aristocats)
Characters: Thomas O'Malley, Duchess (Disney: Aristocats), Berlioz (Disney), Marie (Disney: Aristocats), Toulouse (Disney)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Character Study, of sorts
Summary:

Thomas O'Malley reflects on his new home.

Superman (2025)

Jul. 12th, 2025 05:49 pm
lirazel: Lead couple from Healer ([tv] lois and clark)
[personal profile] lirazel
I saw Superman! I liked it a lot!

Positive stuff:

+ Finally, a superhero movie that cares about every single life! I did not think we would ever see such a thing--superhero movies use "collateral damage" to raise stakes while not actually caring about the people who die. But this movie cares because Superman cares. And I love that so very very very much. Even if it hadn't done anything else, I would have thought it a success for that.

+ Honestly, Superman is my favorite superhero because he's so ridiculously good and decent, and this movie gets that. It's earnest and sincere and isn't winking at you but it also isn't saccharine--it knows that it can be HARD to be good, and intentions aren't everything.

+ Top tier casting. Everyone is doing a fantastic job. Corsenswet, Brosnahan, and Hoult ARE their characters. They were just as good as I hoped, but I was not expecting how much I would love Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific.

+ This movie loves the relationship between Clark and Lois, which means that this movie has good taste. Their chemistry is lovely and the scene where they're doing the interview is probably my favorite scene in the whole thing.

+ Lex is realistically evil in a way that many of our real billionaires are, which I appreciated a lot. His motivations are completely foreign to me, but I only have to look at the real world to see that there are really people who are like that.

+ The twist involving Superman's backstory was so ridiculously good and meaty. A really bold writing choice, but a great one.

+ I thought the pacing was really good! It never felt like it lagged!

+ Everything was bright! You could see what was going on even in the dark scenes!

+ Lots and lots of fun details that made it feel like the people who were making the movie were having fun making it.

+ Krypto!

Mixed stuff:

+ Being a rabid John Williams fan, I was delighted that they adapted his Superman theme for the film, but I really wish we had gotten just one scene where they used the full-throated original. None of the music was that level of thrilling.

+ I could have done with a lot more Clark at the Daily Planet, living his normal life, letting us get to know the Daily Planet people. The action scenes were very good action scenes, but as always in an action movie, I want way more of characters interacting. Imagine how much more Clark & Lois we could have had! However, I understand that the masses do not share my taste so I get why there wasn't more of that, and there was enough that I'm not angry about it.

+ The plot could have been better. It wasn't bad, and it provided a fine backdrop and set piece for the characters to show who they are, but I didn't love it, you know?

+ #teamsomebodyloveeve

+ I wish we'd had a smidge more showing us how Lex inspires loyalty in other people. I mean, yes, in real life, there are a bunch of people who will follow a billionaire that they think is smart without thinking about his morality at all. It's very realistic! but I want to know about this specific dynamic. Is he paying them obscene amounts of money? What is his view of the world that he could convince the engineer to do what she did to her own body?

Negative stuff:

+ Okay, what was the Kents' accents???? If the movie had been set in Alabama, sure, that would be reasonable, but I do not believe that people in Kansas talk like that? Nobody Iw've ever known from Kansas talks like that? It’s so weird how media uses "very southern accent" as stand-in for "country" even when the country the people are from is the Midwest.

If you are from Kansas and I am wrong about how people talk there, please tell me so I can stop being annoyed about this.

[as an aside, Mister Terrific's accent was so lovely that I immediately looked to see where Gathegi grew up, and to my shock found he grew up in California! I would never have guessed it! His southern accent was so realistic! Well done, sir!]

Me trying to work out the geography of these made up countries: ??????? The one is clearly Russia, the other is inspired by Pakistan, Afghanistan, or possibly a province of India, yet we're told this is all happening in Europe. Which makes no sense. Russia is half in Asia, it would have made so much more sense to just say Asia instead????

But my complaints are small.

So yeah! A fun movie! I recommend it even if, like me, you're not such a big superhero person and are exhausted by too many superheroes.

Now can we pretty please have a prequel movie about how Clark and Lois met and how she found out he's Superman???????

[ SECRET POST #6763 ]

Jul. 12th, 2025 02:31 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6763 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 44 secrets from Secret Submission Post #968.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #969 ]

Jul. 12th, 2025 02:19 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets
[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #969 ]




The first secret from this batch will be posted on July 19th.



RULES:
1. One secret link per comment.
2. 750x750 px or smaller.
3. Link directly to the image.

More details on how to send a secret in!

Optional: If you would like your secret's fandom to be noted in the main post along with the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret. If your secret makes the fandom obvious, there's no need to do this. If your fandom is obscure, you should probably tell me what it is.

Optional #2: If you would like WARNINGS (such as spoilers or common triggers -- list of some common ones here) to be noted in the main post before the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret.

Optional #3: If you would like a transcript to be posted along with your secret, put it along with the link in the comment!

Hurt/Comfort Exchange creator reveals

Jul. 12th, 2025 05:12 pm
regshoe: Redwing, a brown bird with a red wing patch, perched in a tree (Default)
[personal profile] regshoe
My lovely Kidnapped gift was by [personal profile] sweetsorcery—thank you! :)

I, meanwhile, was pleased to match on The Warm Hands of Ghosts and Laura/Pim again. It's a good pairing for the angsty kind of hurt/comfort where the hurt (of both characters) is bigger and more complicated than the comfort can fix, but it still matters...

A Relapse and a Respite (2411 words) by regshoe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Warm Hands of Ghosts - Katherine Arden
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Laura Iven/Penelope "Pim" Shaw
Characters: Penelope "Pim" Shaw, Laura Iven
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Unresolved Feelings, Wrapped in blankets while hurt/sick
Summary:

The flu isn’t quite done with Laura, after all; Pim takes care of her, but she has other things on her mind too.

(no subject)

Jul. 12th, 2025 11:29 am
skygiants: the aunts from Pushing Daisies reading and sipping wine on a couch (wine and books)
[personal profile] skygiants
lest you think that having returned The Pushcart War to its rightful owner I went away with my bookshelves lighter! I did NOT, as she pushed 84, Charing Cross Road into my hands at the airport as I was leaving again with strict instructions to read it ASAP.

This is another one that's been on my list for years -- specifically, since I read Between Silk and Cyanide, as cryptography wunderkind Leo Marks chronicling the desperate heroism and impossible failures of the SOE is of course the son of the owner of Marks & Co., the bookstore featuring in 84, Charing Cross Road, because the whole of England contains approximately fifteen people tops.

84, Charing Cross Road collects the correspondence between jobbing writer Helene Hanff -- who started ordering various idiosyncratic books at Marks & Co. in 1949 -- and the various bookstore employees, primarily but not exclusively chief buyer Frank Doel. Not only does Hanff has strong and funny opinions about the books she wants to read and the editions she's being sent, she also spends much of the late forties and early fifties expressing her appreciation by sending parcels of rationed items to the store employees. A friendship develops, and the store employees enthusiastically invite Hanff to visit them in England, but there always seems to be something that comes up to prevent it. Hanff gets and loses jobs, and some of the staff move on. Rationing ends, and Hanff doesn't send so many parcels, but keeps buying books. Twenty years go by like this.

Since 84, Charing Cross Road was a bestseller in 1970 and subsequently multiply adapted to stage and screen, and Between Silk and Cyanide did not receive publication permission until 1998, I think most people familiar with these two books have read them in the reverse order that I did. I think it did make sort of a difference to feel the shadow of Between Silk and Cyanide hanging over this charming correspondence -- not for the worse, as an experience, just certain elements emphasized. Something about the strength and fragility of a letter or a telegram as a thread to connect people, and how much of a story it does and doesn't tell.

As a sidenote, in looking up specific publication dates I have also learned by way of Wikipedia that there is apparently a Chinese romcom about two people who both independently read 84, Charing Cross Road, decide that the book has ruined their lives for reasons that are obscure to me in the Wikipedia summary, write angry letters to the address 84 Charing Cross Road, and then get matchmade by the man who lives there now. Extremely funny and I kind of do want to watch it.
[syndicated profile] thecounteroffensive_feed

Posted by Oleksandr Matviienko

Did you know that The Counteroffensive has a sister publication that covers innovations in Ukrainian military technology and defense regulation? It’s called The Counteroffensive.Pro, and you can read it here.

Support our coverage of the war and Ukrainian innovation today!

Upgrade Here!

Subscribe for Free!

Rogers Smith and the SR-71 in the background. Photo by NASA.

"I was inspired by the example of my uncle, who was a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was an example," said Rogers Smith, a former pilot of SR-71 at NASA, in an interview with The Counteroffensive.

The SR-71 ‘Blackbird’ plane is a product of the Cold War, and the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a fierce competition over the development of technology. This high-tech embodiment of engineering artistry, SR-71, was developed in the 1960s to spy on the USSR.

It was built to replace the U-2, a reconnaissance aircraft that the Soviets had successfully shot down in May 1960. It was clear that even the blazing speed of 700-800 km/h was no longer safe, as the Soviets were capable of striking down such aircraft with their SA-2 Guideline air defense system, and the development of more capable radars was in the works.

Titanium was chosen for the SR-71 due to its exceptional strength and resistance to high temperatures. Aluminum loses its strength and functionality at temperatures above 200°C.

At speeds exceeding 3,500 km/h, the temperature can reach up to 600°C. With the SR-71 capable of flying at speeds of Mach 3 (over 3,500 km/h) and altitudes of over 20 km, it was clear that aluminum would simply melt, said Smith.

The SR-71 Blackbird. Photo by Lockheed Martin.

The SR-71 was used for reconnaissance – to find Soviet-made airplanes in Nicaragua, for example, and to observe China's nuclear bomb tests.

Ironically, the titanium used to make the fuselage for the plane was designed to spy on the USSR and was supplied by the USSR itself.

We reviewed declassified CIA documents and concluded that it was likely sourced from a plant in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine or other Ukrainian mining sites.

At the time development began on the aircraft, the United States lacked the industrial capacity needed to build it, as it required special titanium ore alloys.

The USSR had other titanium processing plants, but all available information suggests that only the Zaporizhzhia plant produced the right kind of titanium during the development of the Blackbird.

The history of the SR-71

The SR-71 Blackbird was developed by the American corporation Lockheed Corporation (now Lockheed Martin). Its first flight took place in December 1964.

The aircraft remained in service until 1999 with a brief interruption, and NASA used it in the 1990s for high-speed research. That's where Rogers Smith became an SR-71 Blackbird pilot.

SR-71 Blackbird. August 11, 1961. Photo taken from the book ‘Photo in History’ [PDF].

When he received an offer to work at NASA in 1982, he took it with no hesitation. He also didn't know at the time that he would have the opportunity to fly the SR-71.

“So, when I walked into the office with Bill Dana [NASA research pilot] the first time, he pointed to a desk in the office. He was the last man to fly an X-15 [hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft]. He pointed to the desk and said: ‘That’s where you’ll sit.’ Well, that desk was where Neil Armstrong sat. It was his desk before he went off to do great things,” said Smith.

The SR-71 ended up at NASA, where scientists were conducting high-speed testing of various technologies, after the U.S. Air Force decided to retire the aircraft.

A U.S. Air Force SR-71A, also known as the ‘Blackbird,’ during a test flight over Beale Air Force Base in California. (Photo by Getty Images).

Smith is now 89 years old, having dedicated his entire life to flying. Besides his love of flight, the Canadian had an interest in engineering, so at NASA, he specialized in advanced flight control systems, stability and control, and flying qualities throughout his career as a pilot.

The uniqueness of the SR-71 Blackbird's development lay in the fact that “everything had to be invented” to build it, wrote Kelly Johnson, one of the aircraft's designers at Skunk Works, Lockheed's secret advanced development division.

At that time, aircraft could reach speeds over 3,000 km/h only on afterburner, and for short periods of time. But for the Blackbird, such a speed had to be routine – they needed to create a fuselage that could withstand the speeds, temperatures, and loads.

Evidence linking the SR-71’s Titanium to Ukraine:

To solve this problem, they needed to use a new material that would be strong enough for supersonic flights. This led to the idea of using titanium alloy. In the 1960s, however, titanium was a very rare metal.

At that time, domestic production in the United States was not yet developed, and annual output was less than 1,000 tons. Furthermore, the size and quality of deposits were poor, and launching a new titanium production plant would take another three to five years.

So, the U.S. had to look elsewhere for titanium.

The CIA created an elaborate scheme to purchase titanium from the USSR, according to former pilot Rich Graham. A series of shell companies was created that purchased titanium under false pretenses. According to one such scheme, titanium was bought under the ruse that they would make pizza ovens, Graham said in a 2021 interview.

The scheme involved several countries, so that the USSR wouldn't figure out the real buyer or the real purpose. Exactly which companies were created and how the export scheme worked remain unknown.

“The CIA conducted a worldwide search and, using third parties and dummy companies, managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world's leading exporters – the Soviet Union. The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland,” Ben R. Rich wrote in ‘Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed.’

No one has ever specifically stated that the SR-71’s titanium came from Ukraine.

But there is strong circumstantial evidence that the titanium was mined in Ukraine, and could have only been refined at a plant in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

A declassified 1985 CIA document shows that the Soviet Union mined a kind of titanium ore called Ilmenite, from which it processed into raw titanium:

“Ilmenite is mined and concentrated at two locations in the Ukraine-north of Irshansk in the Zhitomirskaya Oblast' and near Vol'nogorsk in the Dnepropetrovskaya Oblast.”

The document also shows that the U.S. intelligence agency paid close attention in particular to the Zaporizhzhia Titanium-Magnesium Plant (ZTMP) in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, which processed ore into raw titanium.

Here’s an excerpt of that intelligence report on Soviet titanium production:

“During the late 1950s and 1960s, the USSR strove to build the production capacity and develop the technology necessary for military applications. Three combination titanium-magnesium plants began production: at Zaporozh'ye in 1956 [emphasis added], at Berezniki in 1964, and at Ust'-Kamenogorsk in 1965.”

Of those three, only Zaporizhzhia would have been active when the SR-71 was being designed in the early 1960s.

A declassified 1985 CIA document showing the Titanium plants in the Soviet Union. (Source: CIA Reading Room).

So great was the CIA’s interest in the Ukrainian plant that it specifically was photographed from the air multiple times in 1961, according to a then-Secret document:

“The factory proper is a fenced installation approximately 2,600 feet square... Security measures appear to be consistent with those at other Soviet chemical plants... Many of the buildings are rail served.”

Zaporizhzhia titanium and magnesium plant. Screenshot taken from a Secret 1961 CIA document declassified in 2001.

Around the time of the SR-71’s first flights, the CIA estimated that ZTMP produced 1,000 tons of raw titanium and 4,000 tons of titanium chloride annually – and the plant was still being expanded. The titanium giant was actively studied by the intelligence service through high-altitude photography and sources.

Whether the United States secretly obtained the underlying ore or the more refined raw titanium, the available evidence suggests that the SR-71 has a link to Ukraine.

Through the process of elimination, the CIA’s specific interest in the Ukrainian titanium plant, and the availability of titanium ore in nearby Ukrainian regions, it’s appropriate to conclude that Ukraine was likely part of the supply chain for the lightweight and strong metal.

The thickness of titanium in the SR-71 is comparable to a can of soda. The development of the SR-71 was estimated to cost $764 million for the aircraft and $125 million for the new engine.

The SR-71 also posed unique challenges for pilots. The flight itself required a special suit, similar to the one astronauts wear. Pilots were thus required to fly frequently, be experienced, and well-prepared physically.

Crew members of the Lockheed SR-71 (Blackbird) strategic reconnaissance aircraft. (Photo by Greg Mathieson/Mai/Getty Images).

“It’s the only place [NASA] in my experience that I've ever had my boss tap me on the shoulder and say: ‘You're not flying enough,” said Smith. Pilots had to constantly stay sharp to be prepared for any possible emergency.

So Smith made a point to clock as many flying hours as he could, he said, often showing up at the airfield and saying something like, "I'd like to fly this afternoon at 1:00 PM." In most cases, that's exactly how it worked, he recalled.

The current state of the Zaporizhzhia Titanium-Magnesium Plant

The Zaporizhzhia Titanium-Magnesium Plant is situated on the left bank of Zaporizhzhia, in an industrial zone adjacent to other large enterprises, controlled by Ukraine and located inside the city. It was founded in 1935 and began titanium production in 1956. The enterprise is known as the only producer of raw titanium in Europe, though its operational capacity has suffered as a result of the war.

When Ukraine gained independence in 1991, the plant continued functioning.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war in February 2022, the plant has essentially ceased operations, with the enterprise focusing instead on selling products stored in its warehouses. Approximately 2,000 tons of titanium products were sold for a total of $7.5 million during 2022, according to RBK-Ukraine.

As of 2024, the enterprise owed millions of dollars in outstanding salaries and taxes due to the temporary work stoppage from 2022 until July 2024. Since 2022, total losses have exceeded $24 million.

(From bottom to top) Flight engineers Martha Bohn-Meyer and Bob Meter, and pilots Eddie Schneider and Rogers Smith, at NASA Dryden research center. Photo by NASA.

However, officials in December 2024 stated that production of raw titanium is continuing. In revealing ways, the Ukrainians may have unwittingly helped their adversary again.

The enterprise was plunged into controversy in August 2023 when news outlet RBK-Ukraine wrote that the sales the company made during the war were to companies from Montenegro, Austria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic that have ties to Russia.

These details were particularly alarming because titanium is used to manufacture components for cruise missiles, combat aviation, and other applications.

The State Property Fund, which controls ZTMP, denied the allegations made in the report, however.

Currently, the director is Yevhen Storchak, who took over the helm in July 2023. The Counteroffensive reached out to ZTMP plant representatives for comment, but never heard back. The plant's deputy director also didn't respond to our requests for comment.

The last flight

SR-71 Blackbird with tail number 831 in two-seat variant. Photo by NASA.

The SR-71 'Blackbird' journey ended in 1999. By coincidence, Rogers Smith made the last flight in the history of the outstanding reconnaissance aircraft.

This was at an air show where Smith and the research pilot Ed Schneider were scheduled to perform. Smith performed first, on Saturday. Schneider never got to perform, however, as the aircraft he was supposed to fly had broken down. Attempts were made to repair the plane, but the breakdown was too severe—a significant fuel leak had occurred, and the crew couldn't repair it in time.

Lockheed Martin produced 32 SR-71 planes, 12 of which were lost due to accidents involving things like engine failure and instrument malfunction. Most of the Blackbirds are now on display in museums all across the United States. The Air Force retired the SR-71 in 1990 due to overwhelming demand for fuel for long flights and the development of satellites for reconnaissance purposes. The Blackbird was then used by NASA for research, but it was replaced in 1999 with satellites and unmanned aerial drones.

“Luckily for me, I was one of the two pilots assigned to that program [SR-71 NASA research program]. And it was a magical and mystical airplane,” Smith said.

NEWS OF THE DAY

By: Clara Preve

THE FIRST CIVILIAN JET SEEN OVER KYIV SINCE THE WAR. An Antonov An-124 ‘Ruslan’ cargo jet was spotted flying over Kyiv on Friday, marking one of the first civilian aircraft to enter Ukrainian airspace since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Currently, only military and government flights are permitted over Ukraine under strict restrictions.

The flight landed at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport, where Ukrainian aircraft manufacturer Antonov has relocated its operations hub, according to AeroTime. In the early days of the invasion, Russia destroyed Antonov’s Hostomel Airport—along with its flagship aircraft, the An-225 Mriya, the largest plane in the world.

RUSSIA, N KOREA STRENGTHEN TIES. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who reaffirmed his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The visit is the latest in a series of high-level trips by Moscow officials as the two countries deepen military and political ties. Pyongyang has emerged as one of Russia’s key allies in the war, reportedly sending thousands of troops and weapons.

South Korean intelligence now warns that more North Korean troops may be deployed to Russia in the coming months.

U.S. TO SEND AMMUNITION TO KYIV VIA NATO. The United States will continue supplying weapons to Ukraine via NATO, accelerating the delivery of urgently needed Patriot air defense systems amid intensified Russian attacks.

Under the arrangement, NATO will purchase the weapons from Washington and transfer them to Ukraine.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying 100 percent,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News. “The weapons are going to NATO, and then NATO is giving them to Ukraine,” he added.

DOG OF WAR

Today's Dog of War is Lary. Nastia met him at her university prom as she was getting her bachelor's diploma. We believe he is there to be awarded his LLM in legal studies.

Stay safe out there.

Best,
Oleksandr and Tim

spikedluv: (summer: sunflowers by candi)
[personal profile] spikedluv
I went downtown like ‘usual’ and hit CVS (I needed one item that I have gotten there in the past and they didn’t have it!), Price Chopper (for a couple of veggie items to go with meals), and the Bakery (for Pip’s deli meat). I also got in a walk around the park and stopped at the veterinarian on the way home for Ti's special dog food.

After unloading the car and putting everything away, I got to mom’s ~10am and stayed until ~3pm. Today’s chores, before and after I went to mom’s, included: two loads of laundry (both washed AND dried, one folded), hand-washed dishes, hard-boiled eggs, grilled steak for Pip's supper, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

I started and finished the next two Inn at Holiday Bay cozies and watched the current ep of Murderbot.

Temps started out at 65.7(F) and reached 93.7. It was hot. Thankfully I didn't need to spend much time outside.


Mom Update:

Mom had just finished cleaning the bathroom when I arrived! more back here )

Hurt/Comfort Exchange reveals

Jul. 12th, 2025 08:45 pm
meteordust: (Default)
[personal profile] meteordust
The story I wrote for st_yves was:

Title: The Cage of Dread and Desire
Fandom: The Elric Saga - Michael Moorcock
Relationships: Elric & Alternate Universe Elric
Characters: Elric of Melniboné, Alternate Universe Elric
Rating: Teen
Tags: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Being Tormented By An Evil Alternate Version of Yourself, Held Captive in a Cage, Multiverse
Summary: Elric meets himself. It does not go well.

Thank you again to opalmatrix for your wonderful Chronicles of Morgaine story, Safely Rest, which gave me such beautiful Roh and Vanye conflict and comforting.

Daily Happiness

Jul. 11th, 2025 10:48 pm
torachan: karkat from homestuck looking bored (karkat bored)
[personal profile] torachan
1. I had a pretty laid back day at work today but I am super glad it is the weekend and I have a break for a couple days.

2. I am so glad I was able to get this picture. Jasper: She's lurking again, isn't she?

troisoiseaux: (reading 8)
[personal profile] troisoiseaux
Continued my nostalgic re-reads of formative 2000s YA with A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper, a novel about the impoverished, eccentric royal family of a very small island - think Gibraltar, but legally independent, mostly abandoned, and on the other side of Spain? - in the years before WWII, in the form of the diary of 16-year-old princess Sophia FitzOsborne. (I only realized years after originally reading this how much it owes to Dodie Smith's I Capture The Castle, which I've still never actually read.) This holds up delightfully, although it feels almost embarrassingly self-indulgent, in terms of realizing how precisely it's calibrated to appeal to a certain type of teenage girl and how precisely I was part of that target audience, which might be best described as "former American Girl and Dear America girlies." (And, I suspect, Samantha girlies in particular?) Like, it's just sooo.... she's an orphan living in a crumbling castle (with secret tunnels, a slightly unhinged housekeeper, and possibly ghosts) on an isolated island! She feels herself the too-ordinary middle child among her more talented/charming/outrageous/etc. siblings and cousins, but she's our protagonist, of course she has hidden depths! Plot threads include Sophie's crush on slightly older family friend Simon,* whether to move to London to be Presented Into Society as her aunt insists,** and the looming specter of real-world 1930s geopolitics— the boiling-pot build-up to, you know, WWII - a reference to the fascist sympathies of the British upper class in one of Sophie's brother's letters here, a piece of news there - is chilling, but things get dramatic very quickly when two lost German "historians" (or so they claim) wash ashore.

Footnotes (100% spoilers) )

Okay, so I'm going to be...

Jul. 11th, 2025 08:19 pm
catherineldf: (Default)
[personal profile] catherineldf
at Readercon next week as a guest and I'm quite excited about it! I also have no plans whatsoever, beyond programming. Want to hang out? Eat a meal? Let me know!
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[personal profile] rocky41_7 posting in [community profile] fffriday

Today I finished the latest book in the Baru Cormorant series (fourth book remains to-be-released), The Tyrant Baru Cormorant. Y'all, Baru is so back.

! Spoilers for books 1 & 2 below !
 
If you've looked at other reviews for the series, you may have seen book 2, The Monster Baru Cormorant, referred to as the series' "sophomore slump." I disagree, but I understand where the feeling comes from. The Monster feels like a prelude, a setting of the board, for The Tyrant. The Monster puts all the pieces in place for the cascade of schemes and plays that come in The Tyrant. They almost feel like one book split into two (which is fair—taken together, they represent about a thousand pages and would make for one mammoth novel).
 
If you felt like Baru was too passive in The Monster and that there wasn't enough scheming going on, I can happily report those things are wholly rectified in The Tyrant. Having located the infamous and quasi-mythological Cancrioth at the end of The Monster, Baru wastes no time in whipping into full savant plotting mode.
 

Sidetracks - July 11, 2025

Jul. 11th, 2025 06:51 pm
helloladies: Gray icon with a horseshoe open side facing down with pink text underneath that says Sidetracks (sidetracks)
[personal profile] helloladies posting in [community profile] ladybusiness
Sidetracks is a collaborative project featuring various essays, videos, reviews, or other Internet content that we want to share with each other. All past and current links for the Sidetracks project can be found in our Sidetracks tag. You can also support Sidetracks and our other work on Patreon.
Read more... )

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