Monday Update 11-4-24

These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
How Couples Meet
How to Find Local Activists
Birdfeeding
Trees for Southwest Gardens
Trees
Gaming
Urban Design
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Free Speech
Impersonal Cities
Birdfeeding
Sleepytime Bear Bingo
Follow Friday 11-1-24: Fiction
Garden of Repose
Municipal Leadership
Today's Adventures
What People See
The War on Housing
Bingo
Birdfeeding
Changing Behavior
Hobbies: Tissue Paper Crafts
Electric Vehicles
Today's Adventures
Social Infrastructure
Hard Things

I took some pictures around my yard:
Photos: House Yard
Photos: South Lot
Photos: Savanna
Photos: Prairie Garden
Photos: Back Toward the House
Photos: After Cleanup

The Clone post has 274 comments.


There will be a Poetry Fishbowl on Tuesday, November 5 with a theme of "Healthy Touch & Nonsexual Intimacy." Please mark your calendars, and I hope to see you then!


The American election will also happen on November 5. If that means you might miss the fishbowl, you can leave an advance prompt under the announcement post. Registered voters, if you haven't already done so, check to make sure your registration is still current with no problems. It'll be easier to fix any glitches today than tomorrow.


There are two open epics at present.

"The Simple Act of Caring" belongs to the Big One. Pips takes care of Bennett and gives him something to think about.

"Babes in the Pineywoods" is now open for microfunding. It belongs to the Big One thread of Polychrome Heroics. When a truck wrecks in rural New Jersey, victims of human trafficking flee into the Pine Barrens.


The weather has been mostly mild here. We finally got some rain! :D It's been raining off and on last night and today. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, several starlings, at least 5-6 goldfinches, two female and one male downy woodpeckers together, at least two tufted titmice, a male and a female cardinal separately, a dark-eyed junco, a robin, a black-capped chickadee, and two fox squirrels. Bees have been mobbing the water stations again. Currently blooming: blue lobelia, marigolds, petunias, million bells, snapdragons, red salvia, firecracker plant, pink salvia, pink verbena, blue salvia, ice plant, morning glory, zinnias, bachelor's button, and frost asters. Tomatoes are ripe. Harvest is almost done, with just a few cornfields left standing.

Birdfeeding

Today is cloudy and cool.  It's been raining off and on since last night.  \o/

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a tufted titmouse. 

EDIT 11/4/24 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

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

Pop-up Shops

This article describes the "chalet" form of pop-up shop. You could also call them sheds, and in fact if you had more money to spend or lacked a builder, you could buy premade garden sheds for this purpose -- many people use those to hold small businesses. The locally available ones come with a ramp and often have a choice between plywood (cheaper) or diamondboard (pricier but much more durable plus traction) floor.

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Moment of Silence: Quincy Jones

Music producer Quincy Jones has passed away. He was also a musician, composer, and master networker.


Carry on the Work

What does a music producer do?

How to Become a Music Producer: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Way in the Music Industry

15 Music Producer Skills For Your Resume

Community Bulletin Boards

Before there were cellphones and Craigslist and all that jazz, there were community bulletin boards. Many places still have these -- grocery stores, restaurants, churches, community centers, libraries, specialty shops, salons, etc. Almost every town has at least a handful, if you look for them. People post services that they provide, items to sell or give away, organizations, neighborhood events, and more. There may or may not be rules about the size or content of things posted. This is something that anyone can do in any public or semi-public place where you have some influence.

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Blind Date with a Book

Bookstores say customers love “Blind Date With a Book,” which masks a book’s real cover and lets readers discover what’s inside.

The first thing customers see when they walk into the Strand Book Store in Manhattan is a table of anonymous books with covers wrapped like Christmas presents and titles replaced by vague descriptions. The store calls it “Blind Date With a Book.”

“When in Rome” by Sarah Adams is disguised as “Freshly Baked Slow Burn Rom-com.” “Spoiler Alert” by Olivia Dade becomes a “You’ve Got Mail-esque Romance.” Sometimes a whimsical drawing accompanies the description.


Libraries have been doing this as far back as I can remember. Admittedly the covers in this article are cuter than most I've seen.  I have most often seen libraries using plain brown or white paper.  Occasionally it's color-coded by genre.  I've even seen a few use wrapping paper for a more festive touch.  But hey, it's cool to see bookstores doing this.  At this point, anything that gets a paper book into a reader's hands is a good thing.

Cloning

Cloned black-footed ferret gives birth in historic first, a victory for the highly endangered species

Once thought to be extinct, black-footed ferrets are the only ferret native to North America, and are making a comeback, thanks to the tireless efforts of conservationists.

Captive breeding, habitat restoration, and wildlife reintegration have all played a major role in bringing populations into the hundreds after near total extinction.

But one other key development has been genetic cloning.
[---8<---]
Antonia, a black-footed ferret cloned from the DNA of a ferret that lived in the 1980s has successfully birthed two healthy kits of her own: Sibert and Red Cloud.


It's not enough to save the species, but it's an excellent improvement in previous conditions, particularly since the mother was cloned from the remains of a ferret outside the living gene pool. Now if they could replicate that with the remains of other unrelated ferrets, they might actually salvage the population.

THIS is what gengineering is for.

Malai Recipes

My partner Doug brought home a box of ras malai recently, which is an Indian dessert made by soaking chhena (a type of fresh soft cheese) in malai (a type of clotted cream). Since there was leftover malai sauce, I figured it would be good poured over brownies or chocolate ice cream; he brought home brownie bites today, and the combination is indeed delicious. So I looked up some recipes, and discovered that malai is used in more than just desserts, although it is popular for those...

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