Community Building Tip: Bus

For my current set of tips, I'm using the list "101 Small Ways You Can Improve Your City.

46. Take the bus. "Get lost in your city. Often times we avoid certain areas or simply stay within our comfort zone, but the true city dweller should attempt to reach all areas of the place they call home. You'll be surprised to find that not everything you read—both positive and negative—is true." — Germane Barnes, architect, designer, and city planner, Opa-Locka, Florida

Worth considering, but I note that this exercise is much safer for some people and in some places than others.  For people with disabilities, it is an advanced navigation skill.

Sharing Land

I stumbled across this while researching something else: a program for sharing land with indigenous people.  If every state did this, we'd be a lot closer to cleaning up the mess left by the European invasion.

Birdfeeding

Today is cool and gray, a nice fall day to work outside.

I fed the birds. One goldfinch really didn't want to get off so I could refill the thistle sock.  :D

I planted 9 Royal Gathering Tulip Mixture, which is half the bag, in the purple-and-white garden. 

EDIT 10/24/20 -- I finished planting the tulips in the purple-and-white garden.

Half-Price Sale in Polychrome Heroics

The pool is closed. I will be posting these poems as I have time:

"A Dangerous Thing to Be a Doll"
"Subhan'Allah"
"Her Innocent Feelings" (sponsored by janetmiles)

"Worth Defending"
"Comfort on Difficult Days"
"Beyond Any Other Emotional Pain"
"Too Angry to Be Safe"

"The Production of New and Useful Things"
"Those Tiny, Negative Elements"

"The Evolution of Society as a Whole"


I have also sent to my parents:

"What Hatred Never Learns"
"A Purring Parcel of Paradox"
Autumn Haiku

These aren't sponsored yet but should be tonight or tomorrow morning.


That puts the threshold at $896.75 so I'm setting a stretch goal. If the donations reach $1,000 by the end of Sunday (or more realistically, Monday morning when we check email) then I'll throw in a free epic.

So if you haven't shopped yet but still plan to, now's the time. Bear in mind that we only have one open epic at present, meaning there's plenty of room to start another.

Poem: "A Dangerous Thing to Be a Doll"

This poem is spillover from the September 1, 2020 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from dialecticdreamer. It also fills the "Mobility Impairment" square in my 9-1-20 card for the I Want Fries With That! Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with ng_moonmoth. It belongs to the China's Mistake and Finn Family threads of the Polychrome Heroics series.

WARNING: This poem contains material that may disturb many readers. Highlight to read the warnings, some of which are spoilers. WARN ALL THE THINGS! It includes the aftermath of international mayhem, computer hacking, China's cesspit of a darknet now exposed by the fall of the Great Firewall, loneliness, fear, derealization, slavery, sapient AI sexbots including teenbots and pedobots, severe injury and paralysis, graphic description of the aftermath of sexual assault and physical abuse, nausea, benevolent spying, on people who turn out to be wearing not nearly enough clothes, AI in an inert body, assistance in breaking people out of bad situations without China's permission, teleporters raiding a bottom-ten country, but hey I think even Interpol is busy painting its nails while people deliver China's just desserts, a happy interspecies romance, melancholy, Chinese banks suffering from dither worms and crippling the economy, frustration, threats, being taken for granted, prostitution of sexbots, an assassin offering pro bono work (presumably against rapists and slavers), kinky wear, AI in a body made without any arms or legs, self-recrimination, worry, homosexual rape of an AI sexbot with a male body and heterosexual imprint, neglect, relationship between two sexbots, child abuse, pedobots wanting escape, Mallory coaxing Heron to take a break, Heron crying, and other mayhem. There is a lot of comfort and support along with the hurt, though. If these are sensitive issues for you, please consider your tastes and headspace before deciding whether this is something you want to read. Abuse survivors should think twice before reading it. However, this opens a major storyline in China's Mistake, so skipping it would leave a big gap.

( Read more... )

Character notes for "A Dangerous Thing to Be a Doll"

These are the character notes for "A Dangerous Thing to Be a Doll."

( Read more... )