US and Iran trade fire as tensions rise over Strait of Hormuz
Jul. 13th, 2026 04:28 am![[syndicated profile]](/makepkg/implementing-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
bbcnewsworld_feedWithin hours of fresh US strikes, Iran said it had struck US military bases in Jordan and Bahrain.
bbcnewsworld_feed
Planes sent to tackle wildfires of 'exceptional scale' near Paris
Jul. 13th, 2026 03:36 ambbcnewsworld_feedIt was the first time firefighting planes had been sent up from the normally drier and hotter south of the country to tackle fires in the Paris region.
China evacuates nearly two million people as powerful typhoon makes landfall
Jul. 12th, 2026 07:39 ambbcnewsworld_feedSchools, work and outdoor activities have been suspended in Zhejiang province and many transport services cancelled.
Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, ill. Kevin Hawkes
Jul. 13th, 2026 04:00 amschoollibraryjournal_feed
When you’ve worked for a system quite as large and vast as New York Public Library, it can be difficult to ascertain scope. Was Library Lion the massive nationwide hit we thought it was when it premiered in 2006, or did my workplace like it only because it featured a library and a lion (two very NYPL-ish things)? To get to the bottom of the matter I bring in Kate, and together we plumb the depths of this sweet tale of feline bibliographic appreciation. This marks our second Kevin Hawkes title on the podcast (the first being Weslandia) and our first Michelle Knudsen.
Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, PlayerFM, Audible, Amazon Music, or your preferred method of podcast selection.
Show Notes:
I am happy to report that Michelle Knudsen is not allowing Library Lion’s 20th anniversary to go past without an appropriate amount of hoopla. As such, on Thursday, October 1, 2026 Library Lion will celebrate with me at Lofty Pigeon Books in Brooklyn, NY. Also, the Adam Theater’s musical play adaptation of Library Lion (featuring an incredible Lion created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop) will return to Boston’s Calderwood Pavilion for a third run this January 2027.
Now when this book released in 2006, it contained certain nostalgic library-laden elements that, even at the time, would have been flagged as outdated. The circulation staff member with a stamp in hand. The card catalog. A set of encyclopedias on the shelves that need to be dusted.
I also rather love that the lion sleeps in a “story corner” that resembles an area in my own Robert Crown Library Branch’s picture book area. I have to wonder if Kevin Hawkes based this on a real library somewhere.
Crossover Picture Book Theory: Remember the little girl from The Tiger Who Came to Tea?
What if she grew up, got her library degree, and moved to America? if she was six in 1968 then in 2006 she would be forty-four in 2006 (and as a forty-eight year old with gray hair, I’m willing to believe that that is Miss Merriweather’s age). As such, she would be completely blase about a large feline in a public space. Can we make this theory canon, please?
My theory about why the parents in this library don’t seem to be all that concerned about their small offspring sitting within biting distance of a wild animal is that this is the kind of library where the parents just sort of assume that the librarians are performing free babysitting, so they’ll drop of their kids and then head off somewhere on their own.
We’re not gonna lie. We were kind of hoping the lion would pull a Pierre in this scene (IYKYK).
How do you illustrate a snitch? Fair play to Kevin Hawkes for giving Mr. McBee the most unlikable tattletale stride we’ve seen in a picture book to date.
I mean, it ain’t subtle, but we’ve an odd affection for this juxtaposition of a depressed Miss Merriweather with a dying, neglected plant in the window.
If you were to score this image, what song would you use to accompany this drenched, depressed lion? Personally, I’d go with the Lionel Richie song Hello.
Kate Recommends: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Betsy Recommends: Red mulberry trees (in spite of everything…) and (far more passionately) the works of Black Forager.
The post Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, ill. Kevin Hawkes appeared first on A Fuse #8 Production.
Third Gear, Hang on Tight
Jul. 13th, 2026 12:10 am![[personal profile]](/makepkg/implementing-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
austin_dern I regret to say I must disappoint my most faithful reader, bunnyhugger, because the traffic jam we were in today ate up the time I had figured I'd use to write about the next step in our trip. I will make good on this but for now please have today and tomorrow's planned pictures from our post-Christmas visit to Crossroads Village.
It was the busiest we have ever seen or imagined Crossroads Village being; we were directed to park on a service road that was also substantially ``frozen mud covered in ice''.
It wouldn't be a Crossroads Village trip without taking this same photograph, though.
And here's the coffee shop/main bathrooms, along with the reindeer looming over the building and the Nutcracker who directs traffic for drive-through days.
And here's the National Recovery Administration Eagle showing that Crossroads Village does its part.
The CW Parker Carousel and Superior Wheel always draw us in, sometimes several times in one visit.
Here's the carousel building dead center of the wreath arch they put up.
And the reverse, showing the big sparkly white ornament orb you can walk through.
Here's the carousel, fastest in the state, seen from below where you can see how the support is all from above.
Tracking shot of the dragon chariot seen at six rpm.
And more of the horses going around, with the band organ tucked in the center there.
There's a penny press machine, something I'm getting more interested in photographing every time we encounter one now.
Point of view: you're me, just finished a ride on one of the CW Parker carousel horses. There's no joke there, this is just what it looks like.
Trivia: In 1919 the British airship R34 became the first aircraft of any type to make a round-trip voyage across the Atlantic, carrying passengers as well as crew. Source: When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship, John J Geoghegan. R34 landed in Norfolk, England, the 13th of July, although the date isn't specified by Geoghegan. It's why I mention this, though.
Currently Reading: Smoke And Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories, Amitav Ghosh.
Strange new week, that has such people in't
Jul. 12th, 2026 05:29 pmflexagonSometimes I forget to say things. Things like, it turns out I like the ritual of settling in with my reading glasses to read something. It lends a certain formality and intention to the act of reading, that makes me want to do a good job and get really into my book. Things like: almost two weeks ago now, my base and I finally managed something in acro that neither of us had ever succeeded in before, and that felt nice. (Front mount to shoulders, absorb, tempo immediately into hand-to-hand.) The sky doesn't feel like the limit anymore, but I can still learn.
Anyway, this week was an odd one. No circus between Sunday and Sunday. I watched a lot of videos for my sewing class. The colonoscopy pretty much took Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday night I went to stay with Quarte to be his backup and support person in case of an ER visit while he was on chemo. Luckily that didn't happen. Came home, had completely forgotten I promised to be on a podcast on Thursday, recorded that while still feeling a little dopey, and then spent a couple of hours watering my base's plants. Yes, he has too many plants. Yes, there is such a thing as too many plants.
My squirrel has been off travelling, so I didn't see him this weekend, although I did run over to his house to fix an HVAC problem. And I scheduled an attempt to hop up to Canada to support him during his upcoming Painful Tattoo Adventure, although my doubleplus ungood passport turns out to be expired and so I'm going through the headache of attempting a rush renewal. Such a pain. As for the squirrel, he got announced as the new CEO of his company on Monday, and he's really too busy to see me much right now if I don't hop on planes to follow him about.
I got myself into the good kind of crossword trouble, having a brilliant/weird theme idea on Tuesday (nice for distraction during prep) and then offering to collab with someone else on his Sunday-sized (21x21 grid) idea. I now have two collaborations in progress, plus one brilliant/weird idea that I'm failing to drag a collaborator into, and the NYT is closed for submissions from 7/20 until 9/7 anyway. I've somehow been doing this for a full year now.
Rounding out the week with social time, this morning I went berry-picking with Birdie and then to circus open studio. Then watched Disclosure Day with the bug. It's definitely Spielberg, has some nice camera angles and shots, and features a little girl who I really thought was CGI (and deep into the uncanny valley). Joke's on me, she's a real person unless someone's super committed to the gag. Anyway, it's definitely another movie that ends where I would have liked it to start, but it was entertaining.
Anyway, this week was an odd one. No circus between Sunday and Sunday. I watched a lot of videos for my sewing class. The colonoscopy pretty much took Tuesday and Wednesday, and on Wednesday night I went to stay with Quarte to be his backup and support person in case of an ER visit while he was on chemo. Luckily that didn't happen. Came home, had completely forgotten I promised to be on a podcast on Thursday, recorded that while still feeling a little dopey, and then spent a couple of hours watering my base's plants. Yes, he has too many plants. Yes, there is such a thing as too many plants.
My squirrel has been off travelling, so I didn't see him this weekend, although I did run over to his house to fix an HVAC problem. And I scheduled an attempt to hop up to Canada to support him during his upcoming Painful Tattoo Adventure, although my doubleplus ungood passport turns out to be expired and so I'm going through the headache of attempting a rush renewal. Such a pain. As for the squirrel, he got announced as the new CEO of his company on Monday, and he's really too busy to see me much right now if I don't hop on planes to follow him about.
I got myself into the good kind of crossword trouble, having a brilliant/weird theme idea on Tuesday (nice for distraction during prep) and then offering to collab with someone else on his Sunday-sized (21x21 grid) idea. I now have two collaborations in progress, plus one brilliant/weird idea that I'm failing to drag a collaborator into, and the NYT is closed for submissions from 7/20 until 9/7 anyway. I've somehow been doing this for a full year now.
Rounding out the week with social time, this morning I went berry-picking with Birdie and then to circus open studio. Then watched Disclosure Day with the bug. It's definitely Spielberg, has some nice camera angles and shots, and features a little girl who I really thought was CGI (and deep into the uncanny valley). Joke's on me, she's a real person unless someone's super committed to the gag. Anyway, it's definitely another movie that ends where I would have liked it to start, but it was entertaining.
Daily Happiness
Jul. 12th, 2026 08:23 pmtorachan1. I woke up this morning with a lot of phlegm. I guess the air quality was even worse than I originally thought. :-/ But it's definitely been getting better throughout the day. Here's hoping tomorrow I really will wake up back to normal.
2. Even though the reason I have tomorrow off is that I have an awkwardly timed dentist appointment, I am glad to have another day off. The dentist should take no more than two hours max (cavity + partial crown fitting) so that's a lot of day left to just enjoy the fact that I'm not working.
3. I went to Randy's Donuts for breakfast. They still have the mango tajin one and that was tempting, but I decided to get something else and instead tried their cherry frosted cake donut (pretty good but not wow) and a maple glazed donut topped with mini churros and thick caramel, which was really good.
4. Tuxie really loves just chilling out in that planter.
2. Even though the reason I have tomorrow off is that I have an awkwardly timed dentist appointment, I am glad to have another day off. The dentist should take no more than two hours max (cavity + partial crown fitting) so that's a lot of day left to just enjoy the fact that I'm not working.
3. I went to Randy's Donuts for breakfast. They still have the mango tajin one and that was tempting, but I decided to get something else and instead tried their cherry frosted cake donut (pretty good but not wow) and a maple glazed donut topped with mini churros and thick caramel, which was really good.
4. Tuxie really loves just chilling out in that planter.
Just one thing: 13 July 2026
Jul. 12th, 2026 10:16 pmjazzyjj posting in ![[community profile]](/makepkg/implementing-https-www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
awesomeersIt's challenge time!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Go!
Architectural terms, stairs
Jul. 12th, 2026 09:45 pmoldshrewsburyian posting in little_detailsHello all, I'm trying to find specific vocabulary for staircases. I'm looking at an interior staircase in a Georgian home (but the stair itself might be later.) The thing that strikes me as distinctive is that it surrounds a hall on three sides, having one landing that runs along an exterior wall. I love the look of it, and I'm trying to find vocabulary more specific than risers, balustrades, landings, which is what I tend to get when looking for glossaries.
(no subject)
Jul. 12th, 2026 07:27 pmyuuagoI have two days off scheduled in the upcoming week, and also a whole week in August set aside. ...Admittedly I plan to spend most of this upcoming Friday geocaching, but I am definitely going to try to get some rest in somewhere too. Looking forward to it!
(I'm really tired and sore today though, MIND YOU having given it some thought I think it might be because of the intense yoga class I went to yesterday. Well okay then.)
Started working on a new fic today. Some NO/DE, just a thing I've been kicking around for a bit that will slot into the 'Matters Of' storyline. Should be fun. I've been writing it with my fountain pen; turns out some of the Nota notebooks I picked up from the local Coles have paper that works pretty good with those pens, which is convenient. And gives a good way to work through that, uh, 50ml bottle of ink that I bought a while back. I think I'll be good for quite a while.
This pairing is always such a comfort to write. Which is kind of surprising, I guess. But it somehow comes out exactly how I want it, every time.
Very much in a "No edit, only write" sort of mood, though. I need to edit my FTH fic but I really, really don't want to. (I'll do it, I swear, but ugh, man...)
I've been kind of half-assedly paying attention to the World Cup. Was surprised that Canada made it as far as we did. Was also surprised that Norway made it as far as they did. Not sure if I will watch the final (maybe?). But mostly it made me miss the people that I watched the last World Cup with. They all dropped off the face of the internet, and it's quite a bummer.
(I'm really tired and sore today though, MIND YOU having given it some thought I think it might be because of the intense yoga class I went to yesterday. Well okay then.)
Started working on a new fic today. Some NO/DE, just a thing I've been kicking around for a bit that will slot into the 'Matters Of' storyline. Should be fun. I've been writing it with my fountain pen; turns out some of the Nota notebooks I picked up from the local Coles have paper that works pretty good with those pens, which is convenient. And gives a good way to work through that, uh, 50ml bottle of ink that I bought a while back. I think I'll be good for quite a while.
This pairing is always such a comfort to write. Which is kind of surprising, I guess. But it somehow comes out exactly how I want it, every time.
Very much in a "No edit, only write" sort of mood, though. I need to edit my FTH fic but I really, really don't want to. (I'll do it, I swear, but ugh, man...)
I've been kind of half-assedly paying attention to the World Cup. Was surprised that Canada made it as far as we did. Was also surprised that Norway made it as far as they did. Not sure if I will watch the final (maybe?). But mostly it made me miss the people that I watched the last World Cup with. They all dropped off the face of the internet, and it's quite a bummer.
New verses in "Save All the Pieces"
Jul. 12th, 2026 09:06 pmysabetwordsmithThanks to a donation from fuzzyred, there are 13 new verses in "Save All the Pieces." Kenneth and Stylet discuss what to do about the mangled hedgerow.
fuzzyred, there are 13 new verses in "Save All the Pieces." Kenneth and Stylet discuss what to do about the mangled hedgerow.
Late night exercise.
Jul. 12th, 2026 09:24 pmhannahI can still easily enough drop and do ten push-ups.
I can still, not as easily, do ten more.
I could probably do another ten in a few minutes, but I think I'll move onto squats and curls for a little while. Just something to move a bit and make sleeping a little easier.
I can still, not as easily, do ten more.
I could probably do another ten in a few minutes, but I think I'll move onto squats and curls for a little while. Just something to move a bit and make sleeping a little easier.
How Indian scientists are mapping the brain's last frontier
Jul. 13th, 2026 12:08 ambbcnewsworld_feedIndia's new brainstem atlas offers scientists an unprecedented map of one of the brain's least known regions.
10 years of Pokémon Go and the millions still trying to catch 'em all
Jul. 13th, 2026 12:07 ambbcnewsworld_feedMichael Steranka, vice president at the mobile game's owner Scopely, says it has always been about bringing people together.
The Chinese graduate accused of being Mexico's 'fentanyl king'
Jul. 13th, 2026 12:05 ambbcnewsworld_feedCartel members and ex-colleagues describe how Zhang Zhidong allegedly linked Chinese chemicals to Mexican drug labs.
US Senator Mitch McConnell says absence due to fall and pneumonia
Jul. 12th, 2026 11:41 pmbbcnewsworld_feedThe veteran Republican says he will not return to work "quite yet", in his first statement following weeks of speculation about his health.
New era for Gibraltar with removal of 118-year-old border controls with Spain
Jul. 12th, 2026 11:29 pmbbcnewsworld_feedIt is hoped that free movement between the UK territory and Spain will provide an economic boost.
David Willey, esteemed BBC Vatican correspondent, dies aged 93
Jul. 12th, 2026 03:22 pmbbcnewsworld_feedOne of the BBC's longest-serving foreign correspondents, he reported on five popes during his career.
