otherkin

Scientists think dark matter might come in two forms

Dark matter may come in two flavors—finally explaining why its signals appear in some galaxies but vanish in others.

A mysterious glow of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way has long hinted at dark matter, but the lack of similar signals in smaller dwarf galaxies has cast doubt on that idea. Now, researchers propose a bold twist: dark matter might not be a single particle at all, but a mix of two different types that must interact with each other to produce detectable signals.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Did you grow up regularly playing board games (either with your family, or in other contexts)? Do you feel that this affected the prominence (or lack of prominence) of board games in your later life?

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and mild.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

I am excited to see that the yellow violet has propagated itself, and now there are two little clumps blooming in the forest garden. :D

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I pulled weeds out of two pots so I can plant pansies and violas in them.

I've seen a male cardinal and heard a squirrel barking.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I made one pot with a black viola and a black pansy, intending to add some other black plant later. I made another with a black viola, a black pansy, a purple-and-white viola, a blue-shaded viola, and a white alyssum. I watered the pots and added some sticks to discourage squirrels from digging in them.

I also tested out a trick that I saw in a video. Take a large garden staple, push the tines down into a narrow pot, squeeze together like tongs, and pull the plant out. It takes a bit of practice to make it work, but it does work better than other methods I have tried for safely extracting plants from those multipacks.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I made a pot with a black viola, a black pansy, a purple-and-yellow pansy, and a white alyssum.

The weather is turning cooler and the breeze is picking up.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I made 3 pots with various shades of purple, yellow, and orange pansies and violas. For now these are on the white planters alongside the big pot of mixed Johnny-jump-ups.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I made a pot with a mauve pansy, a couple different violas, and a white alyssum.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/10/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

hera

There are few things that make me feel more satisfied and happy than hitting the "THIS IS CLEAN" goals in my head. They're kind of surreal and silly to think about! Often times, they're absolutely just OCD buzzing. But sometimes it's something as relatively little as taking a shower after a very long fucking day, scrubbing the shit out of myself, shaving, applying lotion and getting into freshly laundered clothes that makes my entire brain light up.

It's so nice, I'm so pleased.

I meant to get in shape by May! That is not happening, haha. But I'm satisfying the sulky ferret part of my brain by making that the goal for the wedding instead. The good thing about not being underweight is that I do feel better on the whole, and it's a sign of being healthier in general - started actually paying attention to my heart rate again lately, and we're down from the 90 to 120 resting rate to fucking 60's to 70's. Yay! The pancreatitis is still a thing and I am aware it will Always Be A Thing, unfortunately, but I've wrangled a lot of my other health issues into submission, and that's great.

The bad thing about not being underweight is that, while all of my clothes still fit fine, I am just.. not used to it! It is hard not to feel like I look Wrong, even though it's barely a difference of 20 fucking pounds. I keep waiting to normalise the idea of actually fucking having fat deposits instead of Endless Bones, and it's yet to work out. At what point does the realisation that, yes, your skin does fold when you lean over not become weird? At what point does the sensation of your skin moving not wig you out? I used to have a period every second month, sometimes every third month, and now it occurs nearly fucking monthly, and it lasts more than 2-3 days. It's just kind of like.. people live like this? How? Why? There's something very surreal about having to adapt to so many slightly concerning to novel experiences that most people have just had their entire life. And you can't even complain about it, or you sound like a psychopath.

Well, except in your journal. Is it sociopathic if you only say it on old sites when no one's around to read it?

Losing weight is not healthy nor of interest to me, but I do want to try to gain muscle before October. We'll see how it goes! It is rather silly that I've been fussing about my appearance on a trip come May, because.. it's shrimply not that deep, and no one gives a damn about my appearance as much as I do. No one is even really going to notice the difference! But I will, and the klaxon call of my life is being perpetually hyperfixated on tiny little things that I care about, despite no one else caring at all.

ysabetwordsmith

Today's theme is Meditation.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Prairie plants reveal a hidden defense against climate extremes

It looks peaceful – but these places are basically training grounds for weather whiplash.

A new study says prairies really do have a built-in advantage when the climate gets nasty: biodiversity helps. But it’s not as simple as the old slogan “more species = more resilience.”

The researchers found that different kinds of biodiversity matter depending on the kind of extreme – drought versus flood – and that nuance could matter a lot as heat, floods, and dry spells become more common.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the April 7, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

ravan. It also fills the "Exception" square in my 4-1-26 card for the Flower Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series Monster House.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the April 7, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by

janetmiles. It also fills the "Request" square in my 4-1-26 card for the Flower Fest Bingo.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the April 7, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

siliconshaman. It also fills the "Request" square in my 4-1-26 card for the Flower Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to the series One God's Story of Mid-Life Crisis. It directly follows "Someone Who Was Trying to Be Sober" so read that first or this won't make much sense.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This poem came out of the April 7, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

alatefeline and a previous discussion with

siliconshaman about the life aspects of geodes. It also fills the "Lilac" square in my 4-1-26 card for the Flower Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by

janetmiles. It belongs to The Blueshift Troupers series.

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Current Mood: busy

brightberries

The first time she leaves, it isn’t dramatic. No high-speed chase. No biting teeth. No flung attacks. It’s simply the moment the den stops feeling like the world and starts feeling like…a den.

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ysabetwordsmith

Scientists discover spice synergy that boosts anti-inflammation 100x

Mixing everyday plant compounds may unlock a powerful, hidden anti-inflammatory effect far greater than any single ingredient alone.

Chronic inflammation often works quietly in the background but can fuel serious diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. New research reveals that everyday plant compounds—like menthol from mint, cineole from eucalyptus, and capsaicin from chili peppers—can team up inside immune cells to dramatically boost their anti-inflammatory power. While individual compounds showed modest effects, certain combinations amplified results hundreds of times over by activating different cellular pathways at once.

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Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and warm with howling wind. :/ The wind really complicates my plans to plant anything today, so I'm trying to think of ways to compensate for that.

I fed the birds. I've seen a fox squirrel on the ground and at the hopper feeder.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I used salvaged string to fasten together 4 white single-pot plant stands, with the taller 2 in back and shorter 2 in front, forming a square. Due to the angled legs, it is not snug, but at least they are more stable than any one would be alone.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I put the pot of mixed Johnny-jump-ups on one of the tall white plant stands. This is not necessarily its final location, but allows me to get it out of the house without exposing it to too much wind.

I sorted out the black single-pot stands. There is a tall one, a medium one, and two short ones. I started by fastening the tall one to a folding multipot stand.

I've seen a flock of house finches, a male goldfinch molting, and a male cardinal.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I did more work securing the black one-pot planters. There's one left to attach. Progress.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I finished securing the last black planter. The resulting structure, while not perfectly tight, is still a great deal more stable overall due to more legs connected in some manner. It doesn't have to look fancy, just do better than last year's constantly tipping pots.

I've seen several sparrows in the forest garden.

It got up to 80°F today, but is cooling down now.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 4/9/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Draw a Bird Day" in

green_joy.

* Posted "Crafts" in

green_living.

* Posted "Poem: Haiku for Natural Monuments of Japan 1-10-26" to

haiku_gallery.

* Posted "Birdfeeding" in

birdfeeding.

* Commented on "Just One Thing (09 April 2026)" in

awesomeers.

Current Mood: busy

citrakayah

I've been complaining (not here, but other places) about where I live not having any wildflowers blooming for a couple weeks now. Despite the grass being green for at least that long, there was not really any sign of anything else which made me worry that there was some sort of drought so there'd be almost no wildflowers all year, or at least all spring. Today, I was proven wrong. While it's pretty minimal so far and I doubt anything like the superbloom I once got to experience in the Sonoran Desert is going to happen, we're getting some blooms.

They're all pretty small low-lying wildflowers so far. Some yellow violets, some other small yellow flowers, phlox. But they're pretty. And I've been hearing more songbirds around, horned larks and western meadowlarks. Their songs are beautiful, and when I get to see them so's their plumage.

I also saw a tiger beetle. Second one I've seen so far around here. They tried to bite me, but I managed to grab them at an angle where they couldn't do more than ineffectively thrash their massive jaws. Seriously, look at a photo of them up close. They look painful. They're not that painful, or at least the one I caught before this one wasn't, but I might've just gotten lucky due to the angle.
( Photos beneath the cut. )

ysabetwordsmith

Today is Draw a Bird Day. You don't need to be "an artist" for this. Your drawing (or painting, or whatever) does not have to be fancy. Just squiggle out a bird!

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Current Mood: busy

fayanora

It absolutely boggles my mind how so many people manage to misspell my first name when it literally only has three letters in it. I am F-A-Y, not F-A-Y-E or F-A-E, it's F A Y. REACH still has me on file as Faye, even though I keep correcting them and trying to get them to fix it. Even my own best friend misspelled it when sending me something from Amazon! Yeesh. My deadname at least made sense, it was¹ an unusual name, and was seven letters long.

Now the rest of the name I would understand, my full name being Fay Anne Aura Arts.

1 = And still is; even with the increase of its popularity over the years, it's still weird hearing someone or something else being called by it, because it doesn't come up very often.

Current Mood: annoyed

ysabetwordsmith

Stone Age humans used these mysterious signs and symbols to store and share information, almost 40,000 years before writing was invented

The research team studied 260 mobile artifacts that contain more than 3,000 signs. The team focused only on intentional and non-practical surface marks. That means the signs were not accidental scratches or marks made for tool making.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny, breezy, and warm.

I fed the birds. I've seen a small flock of sparrows and house finches, plus a male goldfinch.

I put out water for the birds.

I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 4/8/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/8/26 -- We went out to run errands. I picked up a flat of mostly pansies and violas in assorted colors plus a couple 4-packs of white alyssum, a pot of mixed Johnny-jump-ups that are actually fragrant, and a purple-and-white columbine. :D

EDIT 4/8/26 -- I planted the purple-and-white columbine in the rain garden. The bleeding heart there is starting to bloom! \o/

EDIT 4/8/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 4/8/26 -- I did a bit of work on the new picnic table garden.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Current Mood: busy

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Otherkin

March 2026

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Member Posts

Space Exploration

Gaming

Birdfeeding

(no subject)

Follow Friday 4-10-26: Meditation

Nature

Poem: "The Grabber"

Poem: "So DONE with It All"

Poem: Their Hidden Source

Poem: "Beautiful, Tough, Shiny, Resilient"

Kantonian Persian: "Possibility"

Food

Birdfeeding

Community Thursdays

Wildflowers!

Draw a Bird Day

Say my name, say my name.

Early Humans

Birdfeeding

Cuddle Party

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March 2026

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