The Wordsmith's Forge

Solar storms correlate with higher numbers of whales beaching.  The change in space weather may undermine their ability to navigate effectively.  0_o  Yeah, that's ... not really a fixable problem.

This article reveals how some species have lost most or all of their habitat to recent bushfires. 

I have not seen similar reports about megafires on the West Coast of America, but I suspect similar problems -- a big fire can easily overrun a whole species that has a small range.  :(  This needs more coverage in order to protect any remaining habitat.  Also, scientists need to be on the bounce to measure post-fire populations and quickly boost whelmed species up the protection ladder.

The internet is rife with dismal observations about how many people fail their New Year's resolutions before the end of January.  So I thought it would be nice to check in and see how folks are doing.

Here's my big list of goals. As you can see, I'm smokin' it on checking the list, largely because we're still playing with the Vitamix and making lots of new recipes that I then log.  I don't necessarily expect that to last all year, but so far so good.  I have started working on at least 6 goals.  I have already met 2 goals: selling a poem of 10 lines or less eligible for the Dwarf Stars Award, and getting rid of one cookbook that didn't have any recipes we wanted to make. \o/

What's up with your New Year's resolutions or goals?

This article talks about what we lose when we lose wilderness. Honestly, we need to protect ALL the wilderness that is left, because so much has already been destroyed, and frankly most or all the remaining area will be devastated by climate change.

Humans have been eating starchy roots from the beginning. 

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "rakugaki"
Poem: "To Call a Halt"
Poem: "PLUMERE"
Poem: "One of Those Questions You Just Don't Ask"
Poem: "The Three Nevers"
Poem: "Molly Finn"
How to Deal with Fandom Wank
Poem: "Broken Light"
Poem: "smoke, fire, water"
How to Think Outside the Box
How to Treat a Centaur Heart Attack
Relationship Maintenance
Unsold Poems for the January 7, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl
Home Care as Self-Care
Poem: "Invention"
Poem: "On the Head of a Pin"
Snapchat Dysmorphia
Self-Awareness Question: To-Do List
Poem: "Trump of Doom"
Poem: "Glas"
Good News


Last week's Poetry Fishbowl went well, almost sold out in fact. \o/

How are you doing with your New Year's resolutions / goals? Since so many people abandon theirs by the end of January, I wanted to make a space for bragging up our accomplishments and encouraging each other. It is also fine if what you learned this year is "this goal / method doesn't work for me."

Nominations are currently open for the Rose and Bay Award in crowdfunding. This award recognizes exemplary projects and enthusiastic patrons. It currently features six categories: Art, Fiction, Poetry, Webcomic, Other Project, and Patron.  Only 2 categories have nominations and none have them from more than one nominator, so they all desperately need more participation.

These are the handlers for the 2020 award season:

Art: ysabetwordsmith Nominate art! Vote for art! (0 nominations)
Fiction: ysabetwordsmith Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction! (3 nominations)
Poetry: readera Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry! (0 nominations)
Webcomic: ysabetwordsmith Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics! (0 nominations)
Other Project: ysabetwordsmith Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects! (0 nominations)
Patron: ng_moonmoth Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons! (1 nomination)

Please think about your favorite crowdfunded projects and patrons from 2019. Especially if you are a creator, nominate some of your patrons, and boost the signal so your fans will know to nominate your project.


snowflake_challenge is currently running. This year the challenges appear every other day, so it spans the whole month of January. This is bringing lots of new people to my blog. :D Welcome, friends! Feel free to ask me if you have questions.
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 1 Introduce Yourself
Fandom Snowflake Challenge 2: Fannish History
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 3 Communities
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 4 Goals
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 5 Friends
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 6 Wishlist
Fandom Snowflake: Challenge 7 Promote Yourself

I am working on the year-end perks for my K-fans. Here are the poetry series currently available as collections. Arts and Crafts America, The Moon Door, Clay of Life, and A Conflagration of Dragons are new this year!


Poetry in Microfunding:

There is one open epic at present.

"Celebrate and Cherish" belongs to Polychrome Heroics: Mallory and has 13 new verses. Mallory and family meet a teacher at the Circle School.


The weather has been mostly moderate. It rained buckets over the weekend, and the fields flooded, covering the road in one place (but we could still get through there). Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large flock of sparrows, a large flock of mourning doves, several dark-eyed juncos, several cardinals, a downy woodpecker, and a squirrel.  

... and we are NOT IN IT.  Nope, yellow G-type stars like Sol are probably not the most life-friendly real estate in the galaxy.  That would be orange K-type stars.

ROTFLMAO!!!

Folks, life is the most creative thing in existence.  Allow me to present a terrifying example of its ability to survive murderous conditions.

So do not limit your search to things you already know or what you think is "ideal."  Look everywhere, because you never know where you'll find it, and it's better not to step in it unawares in case it decides to eat your leg off, or even your unmanned probe.  And a sample of one is not a statistic.

There will be a blue moon on Halloween this year.  Plan ahead if you like celebrating such things.

These are small to medium birds, including some feeder favorites. These seed-eaters love thistle, sunflower, and sometimes safflower seeds along with flowerheads that produce abundant seeds such as echinacea.

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/all-about-painted-buntings/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/birding-basics-indigo-buntings/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/indigo-bunting/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/all-about-pine-siskins/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/pine-siskin/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/attract-goldfinches-backyard/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/american-goldfinch/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/house-finch/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/purple-finch/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/meet-towhees/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/spotted-towhee/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/eastern-towhee/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/evening-grosbeak/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/black-headed-grosbeak/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/rose-breasted-grosbeak/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/scarlet-tanager/

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/attracting-finches-catching-cardinals/




http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/bird-species/finches-and-buntings/northern-cardinal/

I fed the birds today.  The feeders were mostly empty so they were hanging around in bushes instead.  I also tilted the new upside-down suet feeder to the vertical position.  The nearby cage feeder is down to a nubbin of suet and nobody's discovered the new one yet, so I figure they need a hint.  Once I see woodpeckers on the new one, I'll start lowering it back to its protected position to discourage non-clinging birds. 

 ... from a massive collision.

Presented in a video. 

I bet Ents love this stuff.