The Wordsmith's Forge

Today is cloudy and cool.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/23/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/23/26 -- I did more work around the patio.










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Removing air quality readings shouldn’t make pollution worse, but it did

Embassy air quality readings stopped in 2025, and satellites show the particle load over 46 cities climbed by roughly a quarter to a third.

Measuring something isn’t supposed to change it.


"The observer changes the experiment" is a known phenomenon in science.

In sport coaching, the rule is "You get what you measure." It tells athletes what to focus on.

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I was reading a magazine article about building bases on the Moon. Great idea. With 3D-printed parts using lunar dust bound with plastic or other ingredients.

That is a terrible, horrible idea because lunar dust is one of the most obnoxious materials in the galaxy. It does not want to be your friend. It does not want to be your house. It wants to destroy everything as if it is entropy incarnate. It gets everywhere. It wrecks everything it touches. It's hard to beat as a sabotage material though. Lunar residents turn the word "dust" into an obscenity.

Sure you can try to shove it into an extruder. The extruder will break. You fix it. It breaks again. You make a better one. It breaks too. This continues until you give up trying to manipulate lunar dust or you invent an actual fabber that can manipulate matter at the atomic level and has an intake insulated with an actual forcefield.

I found an online reference:
DESIGN AND VERIFICATION OF A POWDER SPREADING DEVICE FOR IN-SITU 3D PRINTING OF LUNAR SOIL

Today while we were in town, I spotted a fall of acorns. So I gathered up about a couple pounds of them, which is to say I stuffed my pockets until they wouldn't hold any more. \o/

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We made this tonight. It was delicious. :D


"Chicken and Gypsy Pepper Stir-fry"

Ingredients:
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
3 'Gypsy' sweet peppers, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 thumb of fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
half a 1.25 pound package of chicken thighs, chopped
2 tablespoons light olive oil
1 ice cube of corncob broth

Sauce:
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon coconut aminos
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon tapioca starch

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These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Today's Adventures
Clothes
Philosophical Questions: Technology
Birdfeeding
Creative Jam
Wildlife
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 9-18-26: Original Fiction
Equinox
Artificial Intelligence
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Food
Economics
Safety
Birdfeeding
Hard Things

Philosophical Questions: Rights has 32 comments. "Vocabulary: Cobra Chickens" has 21 comments. Poem: "Confidence, Trust, Believing, Strength" has 34 comments. Energy has 30 comments. Food has 32 comments.


Last week's bonus fishbowl went well in terms of writing, which I have actually finished now. \o/ No sales at all, though, which really sucks. :(


"Save All the Pieces" belongs to The Big One and needs $74 to be complete. Kenneth and Stylet discuss what to do about the mangled hedgerow.


The weather has been sweltering most of the past week, with a break on Saturday, then today it broke down to the mid-60sF and is supposed to stay there most of this week. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal. Cicadas and crickets are singing. More monarch butterflies are in the air, likely migrating. Currently blooming: sweet alyssum, marigolds, lantana, million bells, blue lobelia, petunias, portulaca, nemesia, fan flowers, firecracker plant, pineapple sage, tomatoes, peppers, garlic chives, purple echinacea, frost aster, cosmos, sunflowers, nasturtiums, zinnias, bachelor's button, cup plant, sunchokes, goldenrod. Ripe fruit: tomatoes, peppers. Harvest is underway in the fields.

I'm down to writing the last poem from the Bonus Fishbowl.  If you're still shopping, now's the time to make yoru selections. 

Today is partly sunny and quite warm.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 9/20/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 9/20/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 9/20/26 -- I picked up sticks in the ritual meadow.  There are several large branches that either need to be broken up or dragged out of the way.

EDIT 9/20/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I watered the telephone pole garden.

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

Today we went to the Odd Market in Tuscola, hosted by the Tuscola Odd Fellows (also on Facebook). Their next open meeting will be November 10 at 6 PM, gavel at 7:30 PM for members only.

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