dreamwalker13

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

How should we measure the productivity of a society?

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Man Builds House Out of ABANDONED PALLETS in the Middle of the Forest in 121 Days

In this video you will see how I built a house from free pallets by myself near the Samotochka River. From start to finish - life in the forest, survival, manual work without power tools. Everything was done only with the help of hand tools and natural materials that I could find around. This house by the river became a place for relaxation, silence and solitude away from civilization.

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Today is mostly sunny, muggy, and sweltering. :P  It rained yesterday evening.

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

I put out water for the birds. 

EDIT 7/18/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/18/25 -- I picked 2 yellow pear and a round yellow tomato from the septic garden.  The yellow pears are considerably bigger than last year's which were more cherry size than salad size.

Zinnias and garlic chives are blooming.  :D

The white Toscana strawberry pot got knocked over, so I had to put more potting soil in that.  The pink one has sent out a runner!  :D  I'll have to keep an eye on it and see about propagating that.

EDIT 7/18/25 -- I planted a wild senna and a purple coneflower beside the barrel garden.  These were rescued from the lawn near the wildflower garden.

EDIT 7/18/25 -- I filled a couple more pots with several wild senna plants from the lawn around the wildflower garden.

The mower is back, but the forecast still calls for days of rain.

EDIT 7/18/25 -- I refilled the hopper feeder and walked around the yard a bit.

I am done for the night.

TRANSFORM Your Garden To A FIREFLY Habitat!

* Avoid pesticides and other agrochemicals.

* Protect from light pollution.

* Plant native species.

* Leave some tall grass.

* Provide moisture.

* Leaf litter and woodpiles also offer cover.

We crossed 25 watermelon varieties and got this!

These are landrace watermelons grown in a food forest permaculture.  David the Good is one of the few people other than myself who seems to grow what I would consider laissez-faire permaculture, which turns the yard into a messy but productive jungle.  :D

Remember that when you're growing landraces or even open-pollinated crops that you save, your plants will adapt to what you do.  If you don't want to weed or water, then select for plants that can beat the competition.  I throw garlic chives and other alliums all over the place.  Comfrey can take care of itself.  The vegetables are still in pots to minimize weeds, but I'm hoping to get a sunflower landrace going eventually because I am having crap luck with commercial ones.  I get a few that bloom but not many.  I'm getting a few volunteers, though, so I'm encouraging that.

Today's theme is Homestuck.


100quadrantedships  -- Because We Don't Have Enough Of Quadrants
Quadrants, homestuck, shipping.
[Somewhat active with last post in May.]

addme_fandom  -- addme fandom
Find friends who share your fannish obsessions.
[Active with one post in July.]

unconventionalcourtship  -- Unconventional Courtship
Brooding Strangers! Secret Pregnancies! Enigmatic Rakes! All those tropes (or conventions, if you will) you love to hate (until you discover their secret, tragic backstory and fall head over heels for them) are here, ready to be used for humour and awesomeness in a new fic about your favourite star-crossed lovers. 'Unconventional Courtship' is a panfandom challenge that aims to produce fics longer than 1,000 words based on a Mills & Boon/Harlequin novel summary.
[Active with multiple posts in July.]

Folks have mentioned an interest in questions and conversations that make them think. So I've decided to offer more of those. This batch features hobbies.

Makeup art is a hobby that spans branches such as facepainting, bodypainting, cosplay, special effects, theatrical makeup, drag, kink, otherkin, gyaru, boudoir, glamour, and more. It all depends on what you want to make up yourself or a playmate as.

On Dreamwidth, consider communities like daily_gyaru, edgoreyanfashion, justcreate, sw_costumes, andthefreaksclub.

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Cognitive collapse and the nuclear codes: When leaders lose control

A shocking study reveals that many leaders of nuclear-armed nations—including US presidents and Israeli prime ministers—were afflicted by serious health problems while in office, sometimes with their conditions hidden from the public. From dementia and depression to addiction and chronic diseases, these impairments may have affected their decision-making during pivotal global crises.


Hardly a surprise. Sanity isn't often a requirement of leadership. Venereal transmission only requires falling out of the right vagina; election only requires being popular.

Have you ever wondered how you'd handle the gold-madness of Thror? Consider that in this context. And then compare the effects of a dragon to those of a bomb.

Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot. It rained copiously yesterday.

The internet serviceman came out today and installed some new equipment, which will hopefully fix the problems we've been having. We went outside to look at that. The antenna is now atop the bathroom roof, much higher and pointing south instead of east, so we have a better signal already.

My partner Doug had already started bushwhacking a path to the east edge of the yard, where the old antenna pointed. We still want to finish that for the sake of edge access. It didn't get mowed last year. We expected it to be full of weeds. We did not expect it to be full of 10-12' high hackberry and walnut saplings that obviously show multiple years of growth. :/ I strongly suspect that they waded into that position. I told them very firmly to move it or lose it, because we are serious about restoring that path.

I have not yet fed the birds. I have seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove at the feeders. A cardinal was trying to get through the living room window, so I had to shut my office door to block the false flyway between the south living room window and the north office window.

I fed the birds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- I planted 2 wild senna, one under the contorta willow and one under the apricot tree. The ones in the wildflower garden are blooming. :D I sowed seeds of apricot, white peach, and cherry plum. The latter look like beach plums to me -- they're smaller than apricots -- and we got a whole carton of them. It will be interesting to see if they sprout.

I've been hearing thunder.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- I refilled the birdfeeders.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- I potted up 3 apples fallen from the birdgift tree.

I've heard a red-winged blackbird and a house wren, but didn't see them.

Cicadas are singing. Fireflies are coming out.

EDIT 7/17/25 -- It's raining, so I am done for the night.

Wait...The Worst Possible US Disaster Just Got EVEN WORSE?!? (Cascadia Megaquake)

Every once in a while, I see a more realistic extrapolation of the dangers in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, compared to the usual drastic underestimations.  This video looks at some chain-reaction problems such as wildfires and chemical spills that can cause secondary waves of casualties.

You can read my thread about the Big One, but bear in mind that Terramagne-America has much better disaster preparedness than here, and local-America's scenario would be much worse.