Today we went up to Amish territory.

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Astronomers Find the First Compelling Evidence of "Monster Stars" in the Early Universe

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of international researchers has discovered chemical fingerprints of gigantic primordial stars that were among the first to form after the Big Bang.

People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What would happen to a society in which no one had to work, and everyone was provided enough food/water/shelter/healthcare for free?

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These are the location notes for "The Community Couch."

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This poem came out of the April 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from siliconshaman, wyld_dandelyon, and mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Bookstore Girl" square in my 4-1-25 card for the Aesthetics Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

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Our theme this month was "Sentient and Self-Aware Machines." I wrote from 1 PM to 3:45 AM, so about 14 hours 45 minutes, accounting for breaks. I wrote 3 poems on Tuesday plus 2 later in the week.

Participation was down slightly, with 7 comments on LiveJournal and another 36 on Dreamwidth. A total of 9 people sent prompts. You have new donor gs_silva to thank for the second freebie.


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Never -- Ever -- Quit"
"Protect the Inner Core"
"User Interfaces"

"Mamalokshen" (1-9-23, outside fishbowl)


Buy some poetry!
If you plan to sponsor some poetry but haven't made up your mind yet, see the unsold poetry list from December 2. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

This month's donors include: janetmiles, gs_silva, and fuzzyred. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 2 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.


The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.

The following poems from the December 2, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl are currently available. Poems may be sponsored via PayPal -- there's a permanent donation button on my Dreamwidth profile page -- or you can write to me and discuss other methods. There are still verses left in the linkback poems "Delight in Another," "A Sense of Weather Changes," "Ouroboros Insects," "The Loving Embrace of Night," "Generations of Cooks Past," "Homefree and Clear, " "One Bite at a Time," "Stars and Diamonds," "Mishpocha," "Changing Your Nature," and "Besa."

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fuzzyred has closed the pool. I don't have the full list of sponsored poems yet, just the early ones are already marked.  Yes, there are still some poems left!

The Holiday Poetry Sale itself is still open through the end of Friday. Far as I know, Coracle Shores and Crystal Wood are still available as they weren't on any target lists. If more folks buy stuff and there are overlaps, we'll figure it out as we go along.


EDIT 12/19/25 -- Below is the list of poems sponsored by the pool. I will post them as I have time. Links will appear in the sale page.
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Today I made crockpot shrimp boil with potatoes, onion, baby corncobs, and shrimp.  It was okay but not exciting.  The Old Bay seasoning was more heat than flavor, so I used a little of that then added a bay leaf, oregano, and thyme.  An interesting experiment but not worth repeating. 

Today is mostly sunny and chilly.  It rained off and on all yesterday but has stopped now.

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

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/19/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I carried 4 logs from the driveway pile to the patio rack.

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