kimurho

France will recognize Palestine as a state, President Macron says

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision.

Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the United Nations General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,” he wrote.


Today, France is a hero. France is taking a stance that a lot of bigger, richer, meaner countries are going to hate. That's punching up. \o/ Let's put more pressure on Israel to stop the genocide.

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duckprintspress will be launching a new project tomorrow. The swag release is on their Dreamwidth blog.

Scholarly Pursuits: A Queer Cozy Academia Anthology
A collection of 22 delightfully queer, charmingly cozy stories that put a fluffy LGBTQIA+ spin on the dark academia genre.

For reference, "cozy academia" seems to lean toward "light academia" in mood, but doesn't necessarily exclude the deeper colors of "dark academia," and is basically the "comfy/cozy" aesthetic or subgenre with an academic setting.  So if you want queer romance and culture without the gaybashing and other stress of local-America, this is probably an excellent bet.  And if you are going to romanticize something, there are a lot worse things to admire than academia, which has long been a refuge for queers, nerds, and freaks of all flavors.

As a bonus, this is exactly the kind of content that lots of people want not to exist, so buy a queer book and poke a bigot in the eye!  If you know of librarians defending queer books, tip them to this campaign.

Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.

Hairstyling is a hobby that includes cutting, braiding, and related accessories such as wigs or hair jewelry. It all depends on what you what looks you wish to create. Like makeup, it varies a great deal depending on your human canvas -- African or other curly hair textures require different techniques than straight or wavy hair.

On Dreamwidth, consider communities like daily_gyaru, edgoreyanfashion, first_nations_freaks, justcreate, sw_costumes, andthefreaksclub.

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This poem is spillover from the July 15, 2025 Bonus Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from janetmiles, chanter1944, and discussions with dialecticdreamer. It has been sponsored by janetmiles. This poem also fills the "Immigrant" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family and follows (several months later) the poems "Signs of Their Trespass" and "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness" so read those first or this won't make much sense. It is the third in the triptych after "Strong, Competent, Capable" and "The Future by Consequence, the Past by Redemption."

Warning: This poem contains intense and controversial topics. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. It includes unplanned and unmarried pregnancy, domestic abuse, partner loss, awkwardness, poor support back home, reference to other illegitimate children, severe personality changes, past family tragedies, complicated grief, scrapes and bruises, messy medical details, confusion, uncertainty, and other challenges. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before reading onward.

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These are the notes for Notes for "Strong, Competent, Capable."

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What Happens When Housing Prices Go Down (because they are)?

There’s a theory about housing that has taken hold with a kind of religious fervor: If you want to make housing more affordable, just build more of it. Supply and demand. Simple economics.

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As a general rule, grid-based patterns are transposable across all crafts that use them, such as cross-stitch, beading, knitting, and the newer diamond art. But badly_knitted pointed out that knitting stitches are slightly rectangular, so not all grid-based patterns will work for it unless designed for knitting.  But every grid pattern I've seen for knitting has been square!

https://blog.tincanknits.com/2014/06/06/how-to-read-a-knitting-chart/

https://www.fibersprite.com/blog/how-to-modify-colorwork-patterns

This seems like a poor choice in terms of pattern construction. :(  

However, it also occurs to me that knit stitches have a limited range of ratio, because they are  near-square.  The ratio might vary a little based on yarn thickness, but you don't see very tall and skinny stitches.  So it should be possible to calculate what that ratio typically is (or perhaps 2-3 versions based on yarn thickness) and then how that affects a pattern.  Changing a simple pattern would then be easier, and while changing a complex one might not, you could still calculate how much extra to add in order to cover the intended area (such as a sweater front).  I don't have the math skill to do this, but I can see that it is doable.

Today is partly cloudy and sweltering.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/23/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a fox squirrel and a pair of mourning doves at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 7/23/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 7/23/25 -- I checked on the gardens.

Even this late, it's still miserably hot out.  :P

I am done for the night.

Today we went to the Edgar County Fair.

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Today is partly sunny, humid, and hot.  It drizzled a bit yesterday.

I fed the birds.  I haven't seen much activity yet.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/22/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/22/25 -- I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a pair of mourning doves.

EDIT 7/22/25 -- I trimmed around the garden under the contorta willow tree.  A few things are far enough from the trunk that I might need to move them closer in.

I am done for the night.