March 2025

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Tuesday, September 30th, 2025 12:19 am
Purrcy was loving being petted while being as close to outside in the lovely fall sunshine and smells as he could get. Even though we're in NJ, we have *coyotes* as well as foxes, Great Horned Owls, & motor vehicles--it's much safer to be indoor-only, as well as better for the birds.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies on his back in the sunlight on a window ledge in front of a screen, looking up lovingly at his human. His pupil is only a slit in his light green eye, his nose is very pink, his whiskers long, his paws are folded like a bunny's, his belly looks VERY soft. You can tell the window is low to the ground, blurry leaves, stones, and a few plants are visible outside it.




This week (well, last week) Bret Devereaux continued his series on "Life, Work, Death and the Peasant" with Part IVd: Spinning Plates, about women's traditional work: household textile production. Devereaux's expertise is on Rome, broadening to the Meditteranean and premodern European more generally. I commented:
Women's textile production was *even more important* in China than in western Eurasia, believe it or not. The saying "Men till, women weave" was the classic expression of the gendered division of labor for more than 2000 years. Since the time of the Han dynasty at least both men and women were subject to taxation. Depending on the dynasty, either the household had to provide both grain and textiles, or each adult male was assessed an amount of grain, each adult female, textiles.

The cash value of the grain & textile taxes tended to be roughly equal (see, e.g. Francesca Bray, Technology and Gender: Fabrics of Power in Late Imperial China, p. 186), but it's rare to see either primary sources or scholars admit it: the life-or-death significance of the grain tax, and the grain harvest, absolutely dominates everyone's thinking. But (as Bray shows) up until the Single-Whip Tax reform of the late 16thC (after which all taxes were rolled into one, to be payed in silver) women's textile production wasn't just a foundation of the home, it was a foundation of the *state*.

As is usual for premodern technology, most of the technical innovations Dr Devereaux mentions above were invented in China several centuries (at least) before they appeared further west. Originally, Chinese tax textiles were hemp in the north, silk in the south. Cotton became important starting around the time of the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, and spread rapidly. I don't know enough about the workflow for hemp and cotton textile production to know how much of it went to spinning. The workflow for silk production is very different: silk is "reeled", because it comes off the cocoons as long threads, several of which need to be twisted together to make a workable floss.
I linked to my comment on Bluesky, and suggested that Chinese peasant households were probably more *efficient* at producing textiles than West Eurasian ones were, because they HAD to produce surplus to the household's needs: enough for the family, plus enough for taxes.

I also pointed out that although, unlike in the west, Chinese women's labor was a crucial & explicit part of the state's tax system, and the marriage system relied on bride prices, not dowries (which are supposed to be better, maybe?, for women's rights)--yet neither factor gave women rights, respect or control.

I also got to tell someone about how Iceland used to use cloth as currency.
Monday, September 29th, 2025 06:16 pm
Weather fronts can bring in migrants, but whatever brought a little rain last night seems to have chased off what was already here. I was tired and just walked up the road while U and Chris walked Upper Packrat, and although I heard a lot of Corvids and a few other birds, I saw just one, a Hermit Thrush chasing presumably another Hermit Thrush. No one was at the Lake except for a Song Sparrow or two, not even the resident Black Phoebe, nothing like the warblers last week. We did hear one Townsend's Warbler along the road, but none of us got a good view. The list: )

I think things can't get quieter and then they do. Maybe next week.
Sunday, September 28th, 2025 09:53 pm
An empty jacuzzi is an ideal spot for wild! shenanigans! And it's also great for slowly sneaking toward mom, like the mighty predator you are.

A slightly blurry action shot of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby in the empty jacuzzi bathtub, twisting around after his tail

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby has crept to the inside rim of the tub and is staring up with his big, light green eyes, very much like a stalking tiger. Beware!



Purrcy was very concerned, walking hunched and close to the floor, because there had been the distant sounds of a *very* large growling something out there in the sky earlier ... he REALLY hates the Thunder Growler, this is his Sad Face about it

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is standing on a wood floor, looking up with his head cocked. His whiskers are rather droopy, his pupils wide, his expression deeply worried. He is very concerned that the Thunder Growler may show up again.




My new icon is Clio, the Muse of History, from this painting by Dutch Golden Age artist Johannes Moreelse, because she doesn't look *at all* like a Greek goddess picking heroes, she's a young woman taking notes on your stupid-ass behavior.




Last week Bret Devereaux's Friday post was On the Use and Abuse of Malthus, and I commented:
The standard description of the demographic transition has a important counterexample. Birth rates in France started falling in the 18th century, before industrialization or a drop in infant mortality. Guillaume Blanc's 2023 paper, The Cultural Origins of the Demographic Transition in France, begins with a quote from Malthus, in fact. Blanc presents preliminary evidence that France's demographic transition was the result of secularization & anti-clericalism.

A reasonable level of birth control could be achieved using only materials found in the home (mutual masturbation, coitus interruptus--not to mention oral sex, sodomy, or the other thousand & one fun activities that are not PiV), once French people stopped worrying what God wanted them to do. The assumption that premodern people *had* to have as many offspring as possible is not supported by this evidence.

Faustine Perrin (2022) suggests that the Enlightenment/the Revolution/anticlericalism led to a rising level of felt equality for French women in marriages, so that they were better able to assert their desire to bear fewer children.

In the present day, this ties into the work of 2023 Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin, whose article on The Downside of Fertility I just read because she talked about Bujold's Vorkosigan series in an economics podcast. TLDR: Bearing & raising children is hard work, labor even, and women are reluctant to do it if they don't have help.
Sunday, September 28th, 2025 05:18 pm
Since I was out yesterday and will be out tomorrow, I turned back at the corner. It was heavily overcast but not fog on the ground or much wind, so while there would have been more activity if the sun had come out, I found good birds. While last time the Hermit Thrushes were so numerous I had to explain, this morning it was Fox Sparrows, with multiple birds in each of several mixed sparrow flocks. Perhaps the best birds were three American Goldfinches flying over the very top of the trail, vocalizing. First I've seen or heard this season. The list: )

A little sun would have been nice, but then it rained a bit this afternoon, so.
Sunday, September 28th, 2025 11:11 am

I had a swathe of things I was hoping to do this morning, but each one I do takes longer than I was anticipating. One of the things I'm abandoning off the list is a well thought out blog post.

In other news,

Middlest is getting married.

At the Zoo.

In about 3 hours

And it is raining (it most likely won't be by then, but now I'm in a tizz about which trousers to wear to go with which jacket because I had not planned for 'dammit, I'll get cold'. I've already hemmed one pair of trousers, going to have to do another. very much appreciating magical hemming tape)

Tags:
Saturday, September 27th, 2025 12:55 pm
This morning U and I went to chase rare migrants around North Lake in Golden Gate Park. Driving out Fulton reminded me just how enormous that Park is! Anyway, we parked about 7:45 and walked clockwise around the Lake, then retracing out steps from the northeast corner. There were quite a few birders and photographers looking for the Chestnut-sided Warbler and the Blackpoll Warbler that had been reported there, and while we dipped on the Blackpoll we found some folks who'd found the Chestnut-sided and got some diagnostic if not wonderful looks. I'd see Chestnut-sided before - in winter they have an amazing hi-viz yellow-green head - and was more excited by the Black-headed Grosbeak that I heard and that was later seen by others. The first list: )

Back in the East Bay we stopped at Emeryville Marina to look for the Palm Warbler that's being reported. (Like so many warblers they are hilariously misnamed: they breed in Canada.) Some folks were on it when we arrived but I think the photographer pushed too close and the bird flew off. We wandered around for a while without luck, and when U said she was going to make a final loop I said I'd go back to where it had been when we arrived, and there it was: rufous crown, yellow below, and bobbing tail. So we both got pretty good looks. Another little list: )

Again, we'd seen this bird before at the edge of Berkeley Meadow, and I was more impressed by the long lines of Brown Pelicans and the Osprey fishing just off shore. What a wonderful morning!
Saturday, September 27th, 2025 11:51 am
The last quarter of this year is approaching too fast and I still have ALL THE THINGS to do!

#ORJENISE100 it's been slow for me this round possibly because it's intersected with a still busy period at work. I'm still a few days behind and will keep a note of the prompts I've missed and catch up in October. By the end I should have removed at least 200 items from my home and I am making inroads into eating down food stores and using up the toiletries mountain.

HOME: chaos still reigns in my bedroom and living room but I'm hoping to start on the bedroom today and get the first coat of varnish on the back door. There may be a bit of gardening or houseplants potting accomplished too. The ex was at the cottage last week so I did several loads of washing at his and I plan on taking the remains of anything that needs washing up to the cottage with me and drop it off for a service wash up there! I have fallen somewhat behind on #Project65days so on 1 Oct it will become #Project92days to see how much of my To Do List I can clear before 1 January.

HEALTH: knees still not happy. Really need to bust out the physio exercises and do them again. Also need to clear enough space to be able to exercise at home over winter as I'm feeling very stiff and inflexible.

LIFE ADMIN: slowly picking away at long outstanding tasks like a grown ass adult.

GARDENING/ALLOTMENTING: still have remaining winter pots to plant and allotment to sort!

COOKING/EATING: I'm tackling the coffee mountain and have begun to make it at home to take into work. Judging by the last week we'll soon be in porridge/honey season which means I can start tackling the honey mountain. I'm meal planning for the days I'll be at the cottage (tomorrow Sunday evening to Friday morning) so will be taking fruit/veg from home as I have things to eat up. I seem to have a ridiculous amount of fruit at the moment and may postpone next week's Oddbox to allow me to catch up.

READING/LISTENING: Not reading/ listening at the moment - possibly will tackle an audio book on the drive to Wales tomorrow.

WATCHING: Autumn shows are starting to creep back into the schedules. Not sure whether I'll be picking all my usual ones up this year. Trying to back away from both Doom scrolling and mindless viewing a little bit.

CREATING/LEARNING: still here -> summer has been nuts at work so hardly any time for crochet club or other creative endeavours.

CATS: all good.

VOLUNTEERING: we've not resceduked to end of season barbie yet but we do have a committee meeting Monday.

SOCIALISING: I went out with the allotment group (reps from all the sites I manage after their meeting on Monday). Went for one drink left the pub as it closed. Oops. Also met up with some work colleagues on Thursday and we went to More Than Human at the Design Museum. Interesting and now I have loads more photos on my phone. Totally forgot Thursday was the last Thursday in the month and missed my monthly Zoom with 2 friends. Thought I has another week...

WORK: I was invited to the meeting of the reps allotment group on Monday - they know I am under resourced and several things have not been done in a timely manner over summer because of this. I think it's a testament to how well we gave worked together since '21 that the meeting was not "you haven't done this" (which was very much the tone when I joined) but rather "what can we do to help - how about X, Y and Z" where X is an idea so simple I should have thought of it before and Y and Z will massively simplify some key processes, lightening my load and keeping them happy. I'm really happy they've gone from a group who were very disgruntled and finger-pointy, to being a lot more collaborative and having their own plans to do interesting and useful things. There was also a productive meeting last week around the small site which is being reclaimed by the cemetery and where we have you move 19 plotholdrrs and 4 charities to alternative sites.

As I didn't get up to the cottage during my annual leave I've negotiated working remotely for some chunks of time over winter. Heading up there tomorrow until Friday so I can get some uninterrupted work time as well as possibly a couple of slightly longer lunch breaks to tidy the cottage garden. There are less distractions there so planning on reading in the evenings and having a couple of early nights.
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Saturday, September 27th, 2025 04:49 pm

I haven't been seeing as many booklists as I sometimes do; maybe it is the quiet part of the year for it, or maybe I've just been skimming past and not registering them. Anyway, what have I found?

from the Otherwise Award site, Celebrating work from 2022-2023: Part I a list of works to consider from the years the awards were on hiatus. I was in a 'no, no more books' mood so was reading for interest but not to put things on the wishlist.

from pangur-and-grim at tumblr, their favourite books from this year. Not normally the kind of list I'd look at, but at first glance it starts with Alien Clay, which I loved, has a couple I think I'd like and a stack I've never heard of. It also has The Last Unicorn. There are six that Greer has read, and three 'up next'. Turned out some of the ones I hadn't read were already on the wishlist; i added all but one of the rest.

at tumblr, suspiciouspopsicle said I need some good fantasy or scifi to read that doesn't involve romance., First set of replies from [personal profile] specialagentartemis. Sadly, their absolute favourites is three I've read and one I don't want to (saw the movie, don't care), and the weird and interesting is a mix of read it, can't find it, that doesn't sound like my thing. Second from [profile] girlfailuregawain, where the ones I recognise make me a bit meh on looking up the rest, because very much Not My Taste. There are some more in the comments, but I ran out of steam. One book added to the maybe list.

I also added two to the wishlist after reading [personal profile] bibliofile's notes about them.

Friday, September 26th, 2025 02:46 pm

An excellent teaching experience today; the kids were more engaged and we had fewer tech snafus (and were better prepped to pivot for almost all of them), the one downside being that I did not act fast enough before the kids descended like locusts on the leftover lunchboxes and therefore I gotta get my own lunch.

But at least I had already prepared to buy myself dinner as a "yay you did a teaching!", so I can just get a gyro wrap and fries instead of bánh mì and spring rolls without any kind of emotional agonies.

A friend's yard sale is tomorrow and I have successfully offloaded a surprising number of things for that — two curtain sets! branded mugs! IKEA plates! — and I need to set up folks to care for the gherkin while I am away, and someone to pick up the corms for a public beautification project that is also happening then, and after a followup call, the Parks Department has finally finally admitted to looking at my pollinator garden plans and has feedback, which I gotta respond to. Also laundry needs to happen.

Friday, September 26th, 2025 01:51 pm

We've just given the code for collection browsing and filtering a much-needed overhaul! In addition to some long overdue performance improvements, this update introduces collection tags — a new way to find collections featuring the fandoms, relationships, tropes, and other topics you enjoy.

How do collection tags work?

Collection owners can now use up to 10 tags of any type (What are the different types of tags?) to describe their collection. The tags are listed on the collection blurb, and the collection filters have a new "Filter by tag" autocomplete field to help users find collections matching their interests.

A collection blurb next to the collection filters. The blurb has tags listed under the collection title and the filters have a 'Filter by tag' field beneath 'Filter by title.'

While it is possible to use brand new tags on collections, we strongly encourage owners to use existing canonical tags or their synonyms. This makes it easier for users to find your collection using the autocomplete options in the collection filters.

We've also added a "Multifandom" option specifically for collections that feature a wide variety of fandoms. Collection owners can select this option to help users find collections where the focus isn't a specific fandom, but rather a theme like fanvids of old films or fic written in first person. We think this will be particularly useful for users whose fandoms don't have their own prompt memes or gift exchanges, but who want to find challenges they might be able to participate in.

Please note that while we encourage collection owners to start using the "Multifandom" option right away, there are a few more changes we need to make before it will be possible to filter collections based on their multifandom status. We'll update this post when multifandom filtering becomes available.

What about existing collections?

Together with the collection tags feature going live, we automatically tagged existing collections with the fandoms from their works and bookmarks, as well as any works or bookmarks in their subcollections.

Additionally, collections with more than one unrelated fandom were automatically marked as multifandom. We used our tag wrangling system to determine whether fandoms are related, just like we do when marking works as crossovers. Collections with more than 10 fandoms (the limit for collection tags) were marked as multifandom but did not have any fandom tags added.

Collection owners are welcome to edit their collection and change any information we automatically added.

Other changes

As part of the browsing and filtering overhaul, there are a few other noticeable changes to collections.

  • Subcollections are now listed on the main Collections page and included in the results when filtering.
  • In order to make room for collection tags, we've combined the list of owners and moderators in blurbs, similar to the way they're combined on the collection profile. Because we know this distinction may be important to some users, we've made it possible to style owners and moderators separately by using the a.owner and a.mod selectors in a site skin. (Your styles will apply in the blurb and on the collection profile.)
  • The Open Challenges page, including the Open Gift Exchanges and Open Prompt Memes pages, now list collections that are closing the soonest at the top of the page.

Update 12:14 UTC 28 September 2025: The multifandom filtering options have now been added to the filters!

Thursday, September 25th, 2025 10:28 am
This is not a letter, it's a placeholder that will be replaced with a letter in the near future!
Tags:
Wednesday, September 24th, 2025 10:31 pm

I keep thinking about making a happy post, and then there are too many moving parts and argh. Instead, you get a possible insight into my mind you didn't need. I keep reading

it also predates genAI

in the verb form related to predator, rather than date and time. I'm not sure what is eating the genAI, and I'm not sure I want to (is it silverfish? it absolutely would not surprise me if it were silverfish).

(note also that I get a giggle out of un-ionised vs union-ised)

Tags:
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 11:04 am
People who understand these things thought there might be a lot of migrant movement this morning up on the ridges, so I went very early. I didn't find exceptional migration activity, just not very satisfactory views of three warblers and so many Hermit Thrushes ebird made me explain myself. Still, my list is quite long and I found some interesting birds: two American White Pelicans swimming on the reservoir; an American Kestrel, only here in winter; several Great Horned Owls, one of them a juv making their terrible eeping call; a Say's Phoebe, first since January and that was the only one all last winter; a singing California Thrasher, Fall recrudescence at its finest; a flock of Cedar Waxwings overhead; and a chipping Fox Sparrow. The sighting I had to explain (wish I could carry a camera) was an Olive-sided Flycatcher! They should be long gone, but there they were, making the "pip pip pip" call before dawn. On return, to my surprise I saw them atop a very tall snag, their "vest" clearly visible. The list: )

It was getting hot by 9 am (I'm glad I don't live out there!) and I was, for a change, reasonably happy to go home.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 02:12 pm

As per usual: I am not even a little bit ready for the Days of Awe! Emotionally. I'm pretending that the cleaner was scheduled yesterday so I could start 5786 with a clean house. It's gonna be real weird to be with my mother for Y"K, although really most of that day will be spent on the ferry, which will actually be a lovely way to pass the time thinking about Y"K stuff.

I have eaten my apples & honey and gone to the river and filled my cup with friend time, and that's a pretty good way to start the year. L'shana tovah, friends.

Monday, September 22nd, 2025 04:33 pm
It was a beautiful morning. There were Golden-crowned Sparrows in the spot that seems to attract all the sparrows, and Fox Sparrows at the junction of Lower and Upper Packrat Trails. Then the lower trail was very quiet until I neared Jewel Lake. The frustrating fun was at the Lake, four or five Townsend's Warblers, a Black-throated Gray Warbler, a Wilson's Warbler that I didn't get a very good look at, a Yellow-rumped Warbler we only heard, and a nondescript mystery warbler that none of us could decide about. Fun moment was when a Downy Woodpecker landed in full view on a nearby snag. So tiny! The list: )

U and Chris had a somewhat different list on Upper Packrat, including a Yellow Warbler and a Cassin's Vireo! I am envious.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 04:14 pm

AO3 Logo with words AO3 Update

In the last year, AO3 has seen a rise in "art commission" spambot comments. The bots leaving these comments pretend to be artists who want to make comics or illustrations for a fan's fic. After convincing their targets to contact them off AO3, they scam their targets into paying for that art. Fans have reported that after sending payment, they either received AI-generated art or nothing at all.

AO3 has been working on various methods that we hope will reduce the spam. However, these scammers are persistent and creative about circumventing our protections.

To avoid falling victim to one of these scams, the Policy & Abuse committee recommends:

  1. Do not commission art from someone who solicits you by commenting on your work on AO3. Commercial activity is prohibited on AO3. If someone is encouraging behavior that violates our Terms of Service, it’s a good idea to be cautious. They likely do not have your best interests in mind.
  2. Do not provide your email or social media contact information to a commenter who asks for it, even if they say they'd just like to discuss your work further. Scammers try to get you to talk to them privately, because it is often easier to deceive or manipulate people in a one-on-one conversation.

Example of this type of scam

An example AO3 comment exchange with a spambot.

Elizabethbrown123: Wow, this fic was amazing! The way you describe things is so vivid and really brought the characters to life. Your work moved me to tears.
cool_username_42069: Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. <3
Elizabethbrown123: You're welcome! I'm so glad you responded. Do you use Discord or Twitter, or could you tell me your email so we can chat more? I've got some ideas I'd love to share with you, but I don't want to spoil anything.

This is just one example of how a scammer tries to lure the work creator onto a different platform where they can pressure the creator into commissioning art. These scammers use AI to generate realistic-sounding comments. The comments often contain generic praise or statements that could apply to any work, but sometimes they are extremely lengthy and/or specific. If the creator is suspicious and asks why the scammer wants to move the conversation off-site, they will typically claim that they aren't a scammer and/or that they can explain things better in private.

However, unlike a regular user, a scammer will always do at least one of two things:

  1. They will ask you to commission art from them, or
  2. They will share their contact information and/or ask for your information (such as an email address or username on a site that supports private messaging, like Instagram or Discord)

If you suspect that you've received a spam comment on your work, don't reply and especially do not provide them with your contact information. Just report the comment to Policy & Abuse so that we can take care of it.

What to do if you encounter this scam

If you receive a scam comment from a guest, you can press the "Spam" button on the comment. This helps train our automated spam-checker to better detect this type of behavior.

If you encounter a scammer that has a registered account, or if you encounter a guest posting scam comments on someone else's work, please report them to the Policy & Abuse committee. To do so:

  1. Select the "Thread" button on the scammer's comment. This will take you to the specific comment page.
  2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Policy Questions & Abuse Reports.
  3. In the "Brief summary of Terms of Service violation" field, enter "Spambot".
  4. In the "Description of the content you are reporting" field, enter "This is a spambot, their username is USERNAME."

Reporting in this fashion helps us auto-sort your report so that it can be handled as soon as a Policy & Abuse volunteer is available. To help us address reports about these types of bots as fast as possible, please only submit one report per account, and don't include multiple accounts in the same report.

If you encounter a scam commenter on someone else's work, you can let the work creator know the commenter is likely a bot and link them to this news post.

We also encourage you to share this post on social media and help spread the word about how to protect yourself from scammers and reduce spam on AO3.

Monday, September 22nd, 2025 01:02 pm

Block party yesterday extremely good: I met someone who keeps bees on his garage roof, and may have acquired volunteers for the pollinator garden, and talked about needlework with someone, and ate delicious fried chicken and upside-down peach cake. A+ community experience.

Today the cleaner is taking a crack at my dishwasher filter because I could not face a further attempt, and I am doing the interesting parts of my job (discussing copyright in archives! writing semantic HTML in preparation for writing modern CSS! prepping for a teaching commitment later this week!), and tomorrow I will go to the river for Tashlich first thing, and then have a co-writing sesh with H., and then the apple tasting flight with local honey (not from the garage bees) with friends in the park.

There is a constituent meeting with my state senator I am planning to go to later this week, he seems mostly useless but not actively evil, wish me luck.

Sunday, September 21st, 2025 06:03 pm

The Pinky and the Brain Page banner

The Pinky and the Brain Page, a Pinky and the Brain fanfiction and fanart archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).

In this post:

Background explanation

James, the archivist, used to run and maintain a Pinky and the Brain fandom site from around 1995 to 2000. When he recently found some of the stories in an old hard drive he searched the Internet for some of them, but his searches came up empty. Rather than letting those stories sit unread he thought he would rather they be shared on the AO3 for people to enjoy and remember.

The purpose of the Open Doors Committee’s Online Archive Rescue Project is to assist moderators of archives to incorporate the fanworks from those archives into the Archive of Our Own. Open Doors works with moderators to import their archives when the moderators lack the funds, time, or other resources to continue to maintain their archives independently. It is extremely important to Open Doors that we work in collaboration with moderators who want to import their archives and that we fully credit creators, giving them as much control as possible over their fanworks. Open Doors will be working with James to import The Pinky and the Brain Page into a separate, searchable collection on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the archive in its entirety, all fanfics and fanart currently in the The Pinky and the Brain Page will be hosted on the OTW's servers, and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.

We will begin importing works from The Pinky and the Brain Page to the AO3 after September 2025. However, the import may not take place for several months or even years, depending on the size and complexity of the archive. Creators are always welcome to import their own works and add them to the collection in the meantime.

What does this mean for creators who had work(s) on The Pinky and the Brain Page?

We will send an import notification to the email address we have for each creator. We'll do our best to check for an existing copy of any works before importing. If we find a copy already on the AO3, we will add it to the collection instead of importing it. All works archived on behalf of a creator will include their name in the byline or the summary of the work.

All imported works will be set to be viewable only by logged-in AO3 users. Once you claim your works, you can make them publicly-viewable if you choose. After 30 days, all unclaimed imported works will be made visible to all visitors.

Please contact Open Doors with your The Pinky and the Brain Page pseud(s) and email address(es), if:

  1. You'd like us to import your works, but you need the notification sent to a different email address than you used on the original archive.
  2. You already have an AO3 account and have imported your works already yourself.
  3. You’d like to import your works yourself (including if you don’t have an AO3 account yet).
  4. You would NOT like your works moved to the AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
  5. You are happy for us to preserve your works on the AO3, but would like us to remove your name.
  6. You have any other questions we can help you with.

Please include the name of the archive in the subject heading of your email. If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your The Pinky and the Brain Page account, please contact Open Doors and we'll help you out. (If you've posted the works elsewhere, or have an easy way to verify that they're yours, that's great; if not, we will work with the The Pinky and the Brain Page mod to confirm your claims.)

Please see the Open Doors Website for instructions on:

If you still have questions...

If you have further questions, visit the Open Doors FAQ, or contact the Open Doors committee.

We'd also love it if fans could help us preserve the story of The Pinky and the Brain Page on Fanlore. If you're new to wiki editing, no worries! Check out the new visitor portal, or ask the Fanlore Gardeners for tips.

We're excited to be able to help preserve The Pinky and the Brain Page!

- The Open Doors team and James

 

Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.

Saturday, September 20th, 2025 07:52 pm
It was clear before dawn and stayed cool til I left, an almost perfect morning. A front had come through a few days ago and I was hoping it had brought warblers but it did not to this trail, at least. What it probably did bring were four new arrivals: a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a Hermit Thrush, and zonos, two White-crowned Sparrows, which I don't often see there, and two flocks of Golden-crowned Sparrows. We weren't expecting the sparrows for several more weeks. Interestingly, just after I texted U and Chris about the zonos I saw U's email that she'd had a Golden-crown on her suet that morning. I guess they are really here. The list: )

Also fun were several coveys of California Quail; last visit I neither heard nor saw any at all. The first flock was just down slope from the crest, so I stayed there quite a while as the sun rose and the Quail foraged quietly. As often there was a small cottontail with them.
Saturday, September 20th, 2025 07:31 pm

I impulse-made pasta dough in the stand mixer last night, and then today, I:

  • went to the farmer's market, where the good sourdough vendor was in attendance and recognized me, and I also picked up an apple tasting flight (Macoun, McIntosh, Honeycrisp, and Gala) and honey for Rosh Hashanah Tuesday, as well as a dozen gorgeous multicolored eggs, a purple cauliflower, and various other vegetables;
  • meandered around the neighborhood in perfect early-fall sunshine, following the treasure map of local yard sales, and one house was giving away their stuff, including an adorable little pitcher and stationery and stamps and linen napkins I'm going to turn into embroidery projects;
  • did some gardening and met up with a friend and her kid, and hung out with them for a few hours and made play-doh shapes;
  • came home and rolled out half the pasta dough and made ravioli and took a hot bath.

And now I'm going to drink some mint tea and lie on the couch and read a book and cuddle my cat. Tomorrow there is a block party and more fresh pasta to roll. This all feels suspiciously idyllic.

Friday, September 19th, 2025 06:01 pm
I have a set of baskets made to hold paper bags to collect paper for recycling. They're also a VERY useful for collecting cats!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby looks up at the camera from inside a paper bag inside a basket. His eyes are wide, his whiskers spread.




One of our very best friends from college lives close to us. Or rather, we all still (or again) live close to college--I say that "like the salmon, we came back to spawn." She's had breast cancer, was in remission, now it's back ... metastasized. Kind of a lot. I've been to see her, she looks pretty good so far, we had a good time talking about my kids' life changes and about books. But I have a crushing pain in my chest, y'know? And I woke up this morning with my shoulders aching, and I've been *gnawing* on my night guard in my sleep ...

Meanwhile over on Bluesky there's an ongoing multiday ... thing ... because we're asking people to register for the #NoKings protest on Oct.18th, and a BUNCH of high-profile accounts don't understand why & are going on about OPSEC ... and I *do* understand why, I can explain, but it would take so much energy ...

One of the good things in my life is that [personal profile] sholio has been posting Murderbot recs! I will double her rec (if you can stand WIPs) for Robbing the Hood by [archiveofourown.org profile] Rilleshka, a canon-divergence Space Pirate!AU where Murderbot teams up with a *different*, non-verbal bot pilot before it ever meets PresAux, and things spiral from there. It gets particular praise from me because [archiveofourown.org profile] Rilleshka addresses with the *big* implausibility in canon (shut up), which is that human neural tissue is actually incredibly fussy, & keeping it functional must involve, at minimum, *nutrition*.

So, where can I get some Murderbot icons?
Thursday, September 18th, 2025 11:23 am
I'd kind of planned to go sit on the bench at the top of Lower Packrat for a while, but the succumbed to the lure of possibilities at Jewel Lake (despite the chipping/occ chainsaw noise). I found nothing terribly exciting there, a Warbling Vireo and a Townsend's Warbler, but the Red-breasted Nuthatches were surprisingly numerous and loud, and when the sun came out the activity exploded. I heard a Swainson's Thrush and two Western Flycatchers on the way, and possibly a Wilson's Warbler, though just one chip so I did not report it. Surprise of the morning was two Northern House Wrens... ah, just twigged to why they were right there. Stacks of brush are perfect habitats for NHWR, I saw this a few years ago up in the eucalyptus grove along Nimitz Way, and the chipping operation has not gotten as far as the road across from the Lake. The wrens were buzzing loudly and even singing a bit. But those lovely piles won't be there long. The list: )

Rain has disappeared from the forecast, big surprise.