Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

PSA: archive.today not trustworthy

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:44:06 GMT

Wikipedia has blacklisted the site archive.today a.k.a. archive.is, .li, .ph, .fo, .md, and .vn), because Wikipedia editors discovered that the pseudonymous owners of the site were altering some archived pages. The alterations inserted the name of a blogger that the pseudonymous person who runs archive.today has a grudge against, because the blogger speculated about their identity.

Wikipedia editors were already debating whether to blacklist the site, after discovering it was being used in a distributed denial-of-service attack against that same blogger. The argument for blacklisting the site was straightforward: archive.today captchas were running malicious code on people's computers. The argument against was that it would be difficult to replace hundreds of thousands of links, an argument that made sense only as long as the saved websites were considered trustworthy.

My decidedly non-expert hunch is that using the site to look at static content behind a paywall is probably safe unless the site asks you to complete a captcha.

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Planned DW price increase

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 23:40:18 GMT

denise has announced that, after 15 years, they will be raising prices for paid Dreamwidth time, rename tokens, etc.

They haven't figured out what the new prices will be, but the amount will be based on catching up with 15 years' inflation, to keep the site self-sustaining. They don't know yet when this will happen, but it will be in 2025, and they'll give people at least one month's notice.

Free accounts will continue to exist, with the same features they have now. Also, the site is having the usual December sale, of a 10% bonus on any points bought this month.

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Misc. comments 66

Thu, 02 May 2024 13:11:09 GMT

Misc. comments 66: ( terminology, the river Thames, recipes and ingredients, family trees, classifying fruit, covid precautions, learning math, subscription prices, reasons for blogging )
( covid vaccination and masking )

minoanmiss was talking about kids at the place she works trying to get out of math class. amaebi talked about her son's math classes, and I wrote:

Reading this comment, I think part of why I came out of high school still liking math may be the teachers, and another part may be the slightly odd curriculum they were using. It was the "experimental" math track per my high school, and "unified" according to the university that promoted it; we got a lot of the standard material, up to calculus, but also propositional logic (in eighth grade), Cartesian geometry (instead of Euclidean), and combinatorics. The school also had a "regular" math sequence, and students who found experimental too difficult (or, I would guess, whose parents thought it was too weird) could move into those classes, which also led to calculus).

In response to brithistorian wondering about weird magazine prescription costs:

My guess, beyond late stage capitalism being weird, is that they're somehow still selling advertising to companies based on the number of people who are reading, or at least getting, the print edition.

If so, it benefits them to be sending out more paper copies, even to people who read the digital version and will throw the paper magazines away without opening them. It sounds like the prices of daily newspapers increased when they were selling fewer ads. What I paid at the newsstand in the morning was about enough to cover the paper and printing costs, and the reporters' and editors' salaries, the fees for syndicated comics and columnists, and any profits all were paid for by advertising.

It's not quite "if you aren't the customer, you're the product," but it's a little bit in that direction. At one point, my daily English-language newspaper options in New York included several that cost about 50 cents, plus two free papers given out at subway and railroad station entrances, and the Wall Street Journal and Women's Wear Daily.

finch was talking about "why do I blog anyway?" and I said:

Part of why I post here is for my own later reference, which includes both things I hope will be interesting to others, and minutiae of stuff like starting on new meds. I made a bunch of posts early in the pandemic because I could feel time just slipping away, then.

My posts here are also about talking to people, which is sometimes conversation and sometimes "here is information I think you might find useful.".

There's a pinned post at the top of my Dreamwidth account page, which says this is [partly] an online substitute for a paper journal, and also invites new readers to introduce themselves.

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called Gov. Newsom

Wed, 08 Mar 2023 23:07:36 GMT

rachelmanijabrown posted this morning that she, and Crestline, still need help, despite television coverage of their plight.

I called Gov. Newsom's office. I fumbled what I'd wanted to say, but the staffer I spoke to thanked me and said she'd pass my comments along. Then I went back to the website for the California governor's office, and used an email form to send the multi-paragraph request.

I think it took me less time to select "1" for English, be offered the chance to leave a message instead of talking to someone, have a staffer pick up the phone, and say my piece than it used to take to listen to the long message Charlie Baker's office used to play before hanging up without offering to take a message. (I haven't tried calling since Maura Healey became governor.)

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thinking a bit about posting frequency

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 21:20:04 GMT

I am reminded again that some people post a lot more often than others, and that's OK: a "hi, I'm back, yes it's been at least a year, sorry" from one friend, and an apology for not posting often from another, who has posted several times this month.

When I was deliberately posting every day even on days when nothing had happened, in 2020, it was when we were saying things like "what even is time?" and "time is soup."

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Dreamwidth anti-spam

Sun, 15 Jan 2023 19:10:07 GMT

Denise just posted urging Dreamwidth users to confirm their email addresses, to help with anti-spam efforts, and also specifically asked people to share that post with friends, especially those who haven't been on Dremwidth lately, so:

https://dw-news.dreamwidth.org/41273.html

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random questions

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 00:15:50 GMT

I just looked at the first few questions on the "365 questions for 2023" post in my sidebar, and don't feel inspired to talk about them.

I also still have a set of me-specific questions from jesse_the_k, which I do hope to post about.

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Dreamwidth points to give away

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 22:48:07 GMT

One of the things I like about Dreamwidth is that it's completely ad-free and always has been. You can buy paid time, which lets you do things like posting by email (which I use on occasion) and create polls, and gives you more icon slots and more tags.

In order to support the site, I'm giving away some free time. If you're interested, comment below. I'm screening comments, and reserve the right to choose a recipient randomly, but if there's something in particular you would do with the paid account time, please tell me.

I'm doing this because I have a "seed" account, which doesn't expire, so I don't need to/can't buy more time for this journal, and I want to support the site.

I'm screening comments to this post, and I will choose a recipient or two before the end of December.

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offer of cut tags/trigger warnings

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 21:26:31 GMT

I haven't said this in a while, so:

If there's something I might post about that you find triggering, I'm usually willing to put things behind cut tags. You don't have to explain why, if you can identify what you're asking for. So, using a silly metasyntactic variable, "please put discussions of crottled greeps behind cut tags" is sufficient, why you're asking isn't my business. If even "lj-cut text="discussion of crottled greeps" would be a problem, I could probably do "lj-cut text=exampleusername don't read this."

I may say no to such a request, and would try to say it kindly.

This post was prompted by someone posting in her own journal about why a particular topic is triggering for her. Sharing that was generous of her, and I didn't wait for that post before pinning a private "cut tag this subject" to my journal.

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expanded library access, maybe

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 22:33:14 GMT

I went to Overdrive to borrow an ebook, in the course of which I saw that I can now use my Boston Public Library card to borrow books from several other library systems, some of which I had to look up. I knew which part of Massachusetts the "Minuteman" library network covers, because I have a Minuteman card; "Merrimack Valley" is straightforward, and the entry for "NOBLE" expands that to "North of Boston library network." I had to poke around to see which parts of the state are in the "Old Colony" network, and it turns out the C in "CLAMS" is for Cape Cod.

The Overdrive help page says that I can borrow from a partner library by signing into my home library in Overdrive, and then searching. I haven't tried this yet.

I have three Overdrive accounts, meaning my computer occasionally tries to use my King County library card number to log in to the Boston or Minuteman system, or vice versa. (The Seattle and King County libraries are linked in Overdrive.)

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Mastodon

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:40:17 GMT

The wandering.shop Mastodon instance (server) is pausing new accounts for probably a few days while they catch up with the growth in activity: "We have gained over 500 accounts and have around 1000 users *active* (up from maybe 100 or so)."

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Mastodon

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 14:16:30 GMT

I have set up an account on a Mastodon "instance," which is what Mastodon calls a server, as redbird@wandering.shop. Wandering.shop because a bunch of SF and fantasy writers and fans are there, and one of them was inviting people on the Scintillation Discord server.

I'm still figuring out how Mastodon works and how I want to use it. If I understand this, I can invite people to join that Mastodon instance. If I know you and you want an invitation, ask; I'm screening comments to this post.

This prompted of course by what's happening on/to Twitter, but I was barely using my Twitter account anyway.

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Dreamwidth how-to's

Sat, 05 Nov 2022 17:12:28 GMT

umadoshi just posted a fresh link to her pretty comprehensive guide to using Dreamwidth. It's not official, but includes some links to things that are.

She reposted, and I'm linking to it, because the apparent imminent collapse of Twitter means some people will be looking for other social media sites. DW is not Twitter (which is part of why I like it here, and rarely post(ed) there), but scratches some of the same itch.

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Dreamwidth points/paid account time

Mon, 16 May 2022 18:38:49 GMT

I accidentally bought more points than I intended to. Would someone like some paid account time, free?

I'd like to give those to someone (or some two people) I know, here or elsewhere, but I'd rather give them to someone who asks than have them lie around unused.

Comments screened.

ETA: Points transferred, to two fine people.

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Meta: cut tagging

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 23:37:05 GMT

I use cut tags for a few topics, either because I'd want other people whose journals I read to hide posts on that subject, or by request.

If there's some a subject you'd like me to hide behind cut tags, please tell me. The most recent addition, I happened to see a friend's post in her own journal about finding the subject triggering.

I'm screening comments on this post, so you can ask me to hide a topic without people knowing that you're the person asking. Even if I decide I don't want to cut tag a subject -- unlikely, but possible -- I won't identify you as the person asking.

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phone problem

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 13:27:44 GMT

tl;dr: If you need to reach me, send email, my phone isn't working.

I downloaded and installed the latest iOS update to my phone, and it seems to have killed the battery/charge indicator. I suspect the indicator because the battery dropped rapidly from thinking it was at 50% to 12% while I did almost nothing with the phone--used a timer app a couple of times, but no phones or other apps--and then down to 1%, without the phone feeling at all warm.

Turning it off and leaving it plugged in overnight didn't help, and neither did plugging it into my computer (in hopes of connecting to iTunes and backing up data).

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same as it ever was

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 17:56:44 GMT

Prompted by @lcohen talking about her history with Livejournal and Dreamwidth, I took a look at the very beginning of my journal. The first days has two entries, a mention of an odd typo on a sign, and this:

Wonderful. The office party is tomorrow, and the only thing on my mind is politics, which is not a suitable subject for idle conversation with cow-orkers. Even the play I saw recently was political. Aaargh.

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meta: frequent blogging

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 23:29:57 GMT

Someone posted about their project of posting every day for a year, and was wondering whether to keep going into next year.

Back in January, I wasn't planning to post daily. And then we got to pandemic lockdown, and I was trying to post every day as a way of keeping a grip on time and not let everything turn into Blursday then eleventy-third of March. That slipped away in the summer, and then I went back to trying to post most days, even if not much happens, as part of an effort to believe that yes, time is passing.

I am counting anything I post publicly here, definitely including links to news articles, and signal boosting other people's posts. Somewhere in the pinned post at the top of this journal, it says that this Dreamwidth journal/blog is partly a substitute for a paper journal. And maybe in a couple of years I'll want that soup recipe, or that reminder that I wrote to my state senator, or just evidence that I did something other than eat and sleep and comb the cat this month.

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a year in first lines

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 22:02:06 GMT

An old LiveJournal tradition, the first sentence of my first post of each month this calendar year. Nothing terribly interesting here, for better or worse:

( Read more... )

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misc. comments 63

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 12:47:00 GMT

Once again, these are comments on other people's posts, most but not all of them here on Dreamwidth:

( anthropomorphic silliness, non-gendered language, 'phase', worrying about COVID19, DW meta )

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journal subtitle

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 00:11:16 GMT

I added the subtitle "Don't mourn, organize" after the November 2016 US elections. I just removed it, because it doesn't feel right mid-pandemic. (I am tempted by "Don't just do something, stand there.")

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noonlight

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 21:55:14 GMT

In 2003, I quoted Terry Pratchett on the unfortunate fact that there's no such word as "noonlight." Today, I checked the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, and the word is there.

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offer: some paid account time

Sun, 22 Dec 2019 17:43:32 GMT

I'm giving away a couple of months of paid Dreamwidth account time, to one lucky person, who I will select at random. You can enter the drawing by commenting below.

(I'm doing this mostly because I want to give the money to Dreamwidth, and I have a seed account.)

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A message I hadn't seen before

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 10:19:08 GMT

I just got '451 Unavailable For Legal Reasons
Sorry, this content is not available in your region.' when I tried looking at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer website from London. I am surprised not that things are blocked in different reasons, but that this is one of them, and that it came back as a vanilla HTTP error message.

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Finally deleted my LiveJournal

Mon, 18 Mar 2019 16:54:19 GMT

I have deleted my LiveJournal, finally. No actual information should be lost: I told it not to delete my comments on other people's journals, or my community entries. (I should probably go back and delete the "redbird's test" account as well.)

I've been meaning to do this for months; finally doing it was prompted, oddly, by the news that Myspace has "lost" all data from before 2016. And that led me to thinking, briefly, about the solidity or otherwise of websites, and reminded me that I didn't want my entries over there, (Also, I don't trust the current owners of LJ enough to trust them as backup for this online version of my life.)

ETA: Now I am feeling accomplished, because I checked that off my to-do list, and saw two other things I have done that were still on there. That file is labeled "call this a to-do list" but it's not really serving as one, apparently,

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