The Digital Independent

I came across a reference that spikedluv has passed away.  There are comments under the last post to this effect. 

Low-Earth orbit is just 2.8 days from disaster

Low-Earth orbit is more crowded—and fragile—than it looks. Satellites constantly weave past each other, burning fuel and making dozens of evasive maneuvers every year just to stay safe. A major solar storm could disable navigation and communications, turning that careful dance into chaos. According to new calculations, it may take just days—not decades—for a catastrophic chain reaction to begin, potentially choking off humanity’s access to space for generations.


Solar storms can have various effects and follow an 11-year cycle. We are currently around the maximum, hence the aurora displays over the last year or two.

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

Why have many societies begun to place such a high value on emotions and being emotional?


Everyone has feelings. Feelings can be intense. That makes it a good way to distract people from actions.

Our theme this month was "Books and Literacy." I wrote from 1 PM to 12 AM, so about 1 hours, accounting for breaks. I wrote 1 poem on Tuesday plus 10 later in the week.

Participation was up, with 10 comments on LiveJournal and another 29 on Dreamwidth. A total of 15 people sent prompts. You have new prompters gs_silva, ionelv, and Laura G to thank for the second freebie.


Read Some Poetry!
The following poems from the February 3, 2026 Poetry Fishbowl have been posted:
"Books That Bite Back"
"The Evolution of Self-Publishing"
"Libraries from the Ashes"
"A Never Failing Spring"
"No Friend as Loyal"

"The Tranquility and Beauty of the Winter Landscape" (Polychrome Heroics: Rutledge, March 4, 2025 Poetry 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 February 3. That includes the title, length, price, and the original thumbnail description for the poems still available.

This month's donors include: janetmiles, fuzzyred, and Anthony Barrette. All sponsored poems from this fishbowl have been posted. There are 3 tallies toward a bonus fishbowl.


The Poetry Fishbowl has a landing page.

A dinkus is a row of symbols, often asterisks, used as a section break in text.

Here are the location and content notes for "An Inkling of Things to Come."

( Read more... )

Copied from LiveJournal.

This poem is spillover from the August 5, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred. It also fills the "someone from the past" square in my 8-1-25 card for the Crime Classics fest.  This poem belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

This microfunded poem is being posted one verse at a time, as donations come in to cover them. The rate is $0.50/line, so $5 will reveal 10 new lines, and so forth. There is a permanent donation button on my profile page, or you can contact me for other arrangements. You can also ask me about the number of lines per verse, if you want to fund a certain number of verses.
So far sponsors include: fuzzyred, janetmiles.

FULLY FUNDED
628 lines, Buy It Now = $314
Amount donated = $263
Verses posted = 155 of 187 
Amount remaining to fund fully = $52
Amount needed to fund next verse = $0.50
Amount needed to fund the verse after that = $3

( Read more... )

Today is partly sunny and chilly.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/13/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I refilled the hopper feeder.

EDIT 2/13/26 -- I spread a bucket of mulch where the contorta willow tree used to grow.

EDIT 2/13/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a flock of sparrows, a mourning dove, and a male cardinal.

I am done for the night.