[syndicated profile] arstechnica_feed

Posted by Robert Pearlman

Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev, who served twice as a crew member aboard the International Space Station (ISS), including during the final US space shuttle mission in 2011, has died at the age of 56.

With Samokutyaev's death on Wednesday, he becomes the first former ISS long-duration resident to die in the 26 years that the space station has been a home to 155 other cosmonauts and astronauts as expedition crew members. The cause of his death is unknown.

Portrait of cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev. Credit: Roscosmos

"The leadership and staff of the Roscosmos State Corporation extend their sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of Aleksandr Mikhailovich," officials with Russia's space agency said in a statement.

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braird

Jun. 18th, 2026 08:11 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
braird (BRAIRD) - (Scot.) n., the first shoots or sprouts (of grass or grain) to appear above the ground. v., to sprout or spring up from the ground, germinate.


Dictionaries published outside the UK claim this is British usage, while British dictionaries claim this is strictly Scottish -- since they're closer, I believe the latter. This one shows up with this meaning in Middle English breirde, which ultimately goes back to Old English brerd, edge/spike/corner, from PIE root *bʰerH-, pierce/strike, as in the shoot piercing the ground.

---L.

Summer days

Jun. 18th, 2026 10:28 am
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[personal profile] melagan
I love these long summer days. I do wish I could stay awake a little later at night. My body could keep moving but my head crashes. And, there's only so much coffee even I can drink.

I have missed the last twenty minutes of a movie that started at nine p.m. more times than I can count* and those times I made myself stay awake, I had no memory of how it ended. Blank. Input not taken.

But I do love these long summer days.

*back in the old days when broadcast tv as it aired was the only option
simplyn2deep: (Scott Caan::kneel::camera)
[personal profile] simplyn2deep posting in [community profile] comment_fic
🌍✨ Hello, everyone! I’m [personal profile] simplyn2deep, and I’m back to host another week! ✨🌍

Today’s theme is Language. 🗣️🌍✍️ Language connects us, shapes how we see the world, and sometimes gets us into hilarious misunderstandings. Whether it's learning a new language, deciphering ancient texts, navigating cultural differences, discovering the power of words, or finding new ways to communicate without speaking at all, let today's prompts celebrate the many ways we express ourselves.

📌 Just a few rules:
✏️ No more than five prompts in a row.
🎭 No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
📝 Use the character's full name and fandom's full name for ease in adding to the Lonely Prompts spreadsheet.
⚠️ No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option.
📚 If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the spoiler cut option.

Prompts should be formatted as follows:
[Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

✨ Some examples to get the ball rolling… ✨
🌎 Hawaii Five-0, Steve McGarrett & Danny Williams, Danny accidentally insults someone while attempting to use a phrasebook, leaving Steve to smooth things over before the misunderstanding escalates.
📖 Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski & Derek Hale, Stiles discovers Derek speaks several languages fluently and becomes determined to learn why—and how.
💬 Good Omens, Aziraphale + Crowley, after centuries of knowing every language imaginable, they debate which words humans invented that never should have existed.


We are now using AO3 to bookmark filled prompts 📚✨. If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3 please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2026 collection. See further notes on this new option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? 🤔 You can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community. Fret not, DW members 💙; we are working on a way to search through old entries for prompts for you! As of right now, the best way to search for a lonely prompt on DW is to search the community’s archive, which can be found [[HERE]].

While the use of LJ's advanced search and DW’s archive are options, bookmarking the links of prompts you like 🔖 might work better for searching in the future.

As a friendly reminder about our schedule ⏰, Lonely Prompts and sharing completed fills are encouraged on Sundays 🌿, while new themes and prompts are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays 📅. Saturdays are a Free for All day 🎉. We'll share our posts on DW and LJ for everyone's convenience. Keep an eye out for notifications! 👀

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so…and spread the word! 📣 [community profile] comment_fic

🗣️ tag=language

Rab school life

Jun. 18th, 2026 02:14 pm
liv: In English: My fandom is text obsessed / In Hebrew: These are the words (words)
[personal profile] liv
Not quite my first full day off since March but not far off it either. I aten't dead but I have badly run out of time for keeping in touch with people. Anyway the headline is, I have sort of finished my third year of rabbinic training although like every year there's this weird limbo between the end of teaching in mid-May and the actual end of the year first week in July.

new experiences in the past several months )

Coming up: I'm going to two conferences this month, one for the newly formed Progressive Movement (combining two previous small denominations) and one international but held in London. (I'm glad Covid levels are actually low for the first time in 5 years, but I would have attended anyway, these are going to be the best networking opportunities ever.) The usual fortnight of random extra classes after the end of the main part of term has been condensed to three days because of the conferences, bracketed by the viva talk of our sole ordinand and then her actual ordination ceremony.

Further on into the summer I'm being helpful Jewish person for a long-running Jewish-Christian forum in Germany. And starting what will be my fourth year placement at Wimbledon Reform. In contrast to the first three years when I was here, there and everywhere, most of fourth year I'm going to be attached to that one community, so it's more like I'm a kind of assistant minister and less just showing up and leading services or teaching one-off classes. I'll miss the variety but it's clearly very relevant to actually practise doing a rabbi-type job.

Do I have a life outside Rab School? Sort of, but it's mostly quite domestic, spending time with my partners when I can. I've just had a couple of days visiting my MiL and getting my first sunburn of the year walking in the Malverns. I've managed to visit [personal profile] angelofthenorth once, and occasionally get my act together to drink tea with [personal profile] hatam_soferet, but other than that totally failed to see any of my friends or even email or call them.
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[personal profile] jo posting in [community profile] tv_talk
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds returns on July 23 for  its penultimate season. Here's the official trailer.




[syndicated profile] arstechnica_feed

Posted by Jennifer Ouellette

We're about six weeks out from the debut of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the follow-up to 2021’s No Way Home. It's been five years since Spidey graced the big screen, so naturally, Sony Pictures has released a new trailer to build audience anticipation.

(Spoilers for No Way Home below.)

No Way Home ended on a pretty bleak note, with Peter Parker (Tom Holland) asking Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to erase him from everyone’s memory to protect the multiverse, including MJ (Zendaya).

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Movie Rec: 心有妻妻焉

Jun. 17th, 2026 10:08 pm
skuzzybunny: drawing by me cropped to show just her face and goggles (Default)
[personal profile] skuzzybunny posting in [community profile] baihe_media
`Just watched Taiwanese film 心有妻妻焉 (English title: Heart Set on Her) (just released recently) and enjoyed it. Only 40 minutes long, tackles some family issues (no homophobia from the family) in the eve of their wedding. It doesn't have the run time to get into anything too groundbreaking, but it excelled at giving this relationship life and depth in that time. Super charming, great cinematography and a grounded expectation. Def worth an afternoon watch! They're super cute and I love to see the leads in something longer in the future.

(no subject)

Jun. 18th, 2026 12:19 am
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[personal profile] aurumcalendula
I'm not sure if this is a new development, but some ebooks bought from Amazon that are DRM-free (most of Tor's stuff iirc) now have an option to download an actually DRM-free epub on your account's Digital Content page.

Random

Jun. 18th, 2026 12:07 am
sine_nomine: (Default)
[personal profile] sine_nomine
First, I don't care what they say about wheat in Europe vs wheat in the US. Celiac is celiac.

Second, we can't afford to rest on our laurels because we might not have any laurels left to rest on.

Third, packing is a time-consuming activity of the most insane duration.

Fourth, paper is way better for packing than bubble wrap for almost everyrhing household (not collectibles). Just ask a moving company what they use.

Fifth, the tickets are bought and everything. Home Wednesday.

Sixth, Geez, I have a lot of stuff. Even with all that I have given away it's still a lot of stuff.

Seventh, I am really going to miss LA. If someone had said that to me last May I would have laughed. But IT DOESN’T RAIN HERE. Which means my pain medicine requirements are so much reduced. The hip replacement doesn't hurt, either. I do feel guilty that I haven't seen an old family friend while here, though.

Eighth, which makes some overanxious doctor's prescription of Narcan for me to be even more hysterical. I have never been at risk of an overdose and so much even less so now.

Ninth, the owners of the unit where I am staying actually want to buy the lift chair I have been using. Small amount of money but, given that I was hoping they would let me just leave it here it's a win. Likely will turn it into a donation somewhere. The money, I mean.

Tenth, said owners will, unfortunately, be living in their own housr when I am here in December so I have to find an alternative. It's really unfortunate. Between being perfectly located and the building being accessible (ramps! Elevator with front and rear door means driving straight through!) it's going to be hard to find another like it.

And now it's June 17th and this is outdated because I am home. And I wish I wasn't. My huge space feels claustrophobic, my bedroom here (as large as it is) feels smaller than LA, it's musty, a stack of my plants are unhappy, and I am really not happy to be here. At least with someone holding the door I easily cleared the building door in the powerchair but the new modern elevators are a nightmare, and I really wish I opened up my kitchen doorway even 8 inches. Navigated the house in the chair right until I misjudged backing and went into my sofa table, which is covered in Native American pottefy. Miraculously only one casualty but a major one. And I am not sure how I will live on my own, for a stack of reasons. But that's a problem for another day.

Cirrusly

Jun. 17th, 2026 09:41 pm
nineweaving: (Default)
[personal profile] nineweaving
I like The Matter of Cloud (with its allusion to Arthuriana) as a series title for my books; my editor, alas, does not. She suggests Cloudlore or Cloudspells or Cloudish Cycle. (That last, of course, has three wheels and an umbrella.) I think the right compound might play nicely with Moonwise and Lightwards. I'm not sure she's hit on one.

Cloudlaw
does bring together the two realms of the goddesses.

Cloudbound or Cloud Unbound

Cloudscape

Cloudfast

Cloudborn(e)

Cloudwarp or Cloudweft

Cloudweaving

Unclouded

Any thoughts?

Nine

still bloody sick

Jun. 18th, 2026 11:45 am
tielan: SG1 team at the Stargate in Window of Opportunity (SG1 - team)
[personal profile] tielan
Not as bad as last week, getting better, but still congested. IDEK.

Seeing the doc against shortly.

Neat thing

Jun. 17th, 2026 09:11 pm
independence1776: The Star of Fëanor on top of a background of fire. (Star of Fëanor)
[personal profile] independence1776
[personal profile] dawn_felagund participated in an audio thing (podcast? online radio episode? not exactly my ballpark here) about Silmarillion fanfiction with the BBC! It's just under half an hour long, has another fan-scholar focusing on Boys Love ("the biggest genre of fanfiction in Japan and South-East Asia," to quote the blurb), and was definitely a fascinating, birds-eye-view about two specific parts of fanfic fandom. Highly recommend!

The part that had me nodding in commiseration? Dawn mentioned that when she first began posting her first fic, she thought with every chapter she was afraid she'd be revealed as a fraud. I got over that pretty quickly into my time in the Silm fandom... but that was when it was tiny, mostly contained on LJ and the SWG, and it was possible to know or know of almost everyone active in the fandom. Now? That fear of being revealed as a fraud is back and has been back for years, not helped by the fact that I don't know what current Silm fandom is doing, is interested in, or hates. I generally don't care to follow fanon (witness not including Maedhros in with the Maglor raising Elrond and Elros years (also me hating the name "kidnap fam")), but not knowing if I'm going to get yelled at is... bad. And that I haven't read the Silmarillion cover-to-cover in years. So yeah. Fraud.

Happy Birthday

Jun. 17th, 2026 09:18 pm
cornerofmadness: (Default)
[personal profile] cornerofmadness
To my birthday twin [personal profile] thoughtsbykat. Hope it's a good one. Mine was a bit...tense for personal reasons I don't want to get into.



Flippy sent me the image so I'm passing it along.


I did get to go to the mall for awhile so that was nice. I still haven't gotten everything out of the car yet but I'm getting there.


[personal profile] evil_little_dog got me cool stuff last month since we were getting together and Betty sent me super cool Cryptid related scones and jam. Looking forward to some stuff coming from Flippy. I bought myself a while back a blind book chucked full of little stickers, magnets book mark etc. It was a mystery When We Fell Apart, looks good.


What I Just Finished Reading:

nothing


What I am Currently Reading:


The Death Card - currently struggling to get into it


Cloak and Dagger Club - a post WWI mystery that I'm enjoying so far


The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy




What I Plan to Read Next: some of my looming arcs and things for popsugar

current fandom events

Jun. 17th, 2026 05:24 pm
svgurl: (smallville: kara)
[personal profile] svgurl
[community profile] allbingo is running Pride Fest through the month of June. There is a premade card or you can create your own using the available prompts.

[community profile] crossworks, a crossover/fusion based fic/art exchange, is open for sign-ups until June 20th, 11:59PM EST.

[community profile] multifandomtropefest, an exchange dedicated to tropes, variations on tropes, and trope subversions, is accepting nominations until June 26th, 9PM EDT. More info, including a link to the tagset, is HERE.

[community profile] supergirl_tv is running Supergirl Summer 2026, a prompt meme to celebrate the upcoming Supergirl movie. All versions of Supergirl are accepted and prompting will remain open until July 25th.

[community profile] theartistsway, a Dreamwidth community working through Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, is still open for sign-ups. It will begin on June 28th.

[community profile] julybreakbingopresents, a multi fandom bingo challenge with customizable cards, is open for sign-ups until July 7th.

[personal profile] elasticella is running filthy femslash fantasies ficathon. It will run until July 31st.

[community profile] summerofthe69, an event focused on creative works about the sexual position, open to all fandoms and to original works, is now open for 2026. It will run from June 9th to September 6th.

[personal profile] senmut is running July Jams, a song fest where you pick up to 5 songs, albums, or artists and then try to create up to five creative works (your choice on style, media, min/max).

[community profile] comment_bingo (:D :D :D), a bingo challenge where you use the prompts to comment on other fanworks instead of creating your own, is back for Round 9! Click on the banner below to sign up/find out more. This round will run until September 30th.

green background containing community name and goal with various social media and commenting symbols

[community profile] fancake's theme of the month is: just like canon. Click on the banner below to learn more!

 Photograph of a mix tape. Just Like Canon, A Fancake Mix 2026 is written on the cassette's label alongside some heart doodles.
[syndicated profile] arstechnica_feed

Posted by Beth Mole

The Food and Drug Administration this week cleared a second carcass-feasting fly species for use in maggot wound therapy, according to an announcement from Cuprina Holdings, a Singapore-based company that has dubbed its new therapeutic larvae MediFly Maggots.

With the clearance, Cuprina appears to be the only company to have FDA clearance to sell two species of fly larvae—and it's abuzz with the potential to dominate the global maggot market.

The new species is Lucilia cuprina, or Australian sheep blowfly. It's a close relative of Lucilia sericata, or the common green bottle fly, which is the fly species most often used for wound therapy, often called biosurgery or maggot debridement therapy (MDT). L. sericata is the only other fly with FDA clearance, which the agency first granted in 2004 to Ronald Sherman, who is now Cuprina’s Medical and Scientific Director.

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