good news: health

Jan. 21st, 2026 08:01 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
There's more evidence that the shingles vaccine reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease: two more natural experiments (in which people were offered the vaccine based on date of birth or where they lived). One of them comparED the older Zostavax vaccine with the newer Shingrix: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-on-the-shingles-vaccineagain

As the blogger, Eric Topol says, "If this vaccine was a drug and reduced Alzheimer’s by 20%, it would be considered a major breakthrough for helping to prevent the disease! But as a vaccine, it hasn't reached any sense of being a blockbuster"

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #11

Jan. 21st, 2026 11:44 am
reeby10: closeup of a blue snowflake with a dark grey background and the words fandom snowflake in the upper left corner in white and blue (fandom snowflake)
[personal profile] reeby10 posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9 * Challenge #10 *

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #111 )

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

delphi: An illustrated crow kicks a little ball of snow with a contemplative expression. (Default)
[personal profile] delphi
[personal profile] kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: eBook/Audiobook

That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You is a 2025 memoir by comedian/musician/online personality Elyse Myers. It's a collection of essays, free verse poetry, and lists that take a humorous but heartfelt look at formative and vulnerable moments in her life, with a retrospective understanding of the anxiety and undiagnosed neurodivergence that often shaped them.

Stories include a childhood fixation on a Magic 8 Ball, overthinking and missing the obvious during a teenage game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, college panic attacks, Parisian dates gone awry, beach encounters gone sour, and conquering the mysteries of gravel roads. Anyone familiar with Elyse Myers' work online knows she has a way of telling a story and getting a laugh while also not being afraid to be earnest. If you haven't seen her videos before, you can check her out on TikTok or on Youtube.

I don't listen to a ton of audiobooks, my main exception being memoirs that are read by their authors. That usually works out for me, but in this case I really wish I'd gone with the print book for three reasons:

1) It turns out the print edition is full of little illustrations and creative formatting that brings a lot to some of the pieces.

2) One of the things I enjoy about Myers is her more freeform and sometimes frenetic delivery, but this was a more sedate and traditional audiobook performance.

3) Related to #2, several stories triggered some secondhand embarrassment for me and having to listen to that be slowly relayed instead of being able to read faster during those was rough.

An Excerpt )

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #10

Jan. 19th, 2026 03:19 pm
teaotter: two hands in red mittens cup a snowball in the shape of a heart (snowhands)
[personal profile] teaotter posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 * Challenge #9

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #10 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

(no subject)

Jan. 17th, 2026 01:36 pm
author_by_night: (I really need a new userpic)
[personal profile] author_by_night
 
 
Snowflake Challenge #9
 
Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)
 
This list is a jumble of tropes and themes.

- Found Family, in both media and transformative works.

- AUs that play with how the changed context changes the characters and/or setting(s) in turn. 

- Likewise, Body Swaps - both fic and in the media - that really show how the swapped characters learn about each other. 

- I don't know what the term for this trope or motif is, but basically a HUGE number of fics that explore a major canon event, whether something only alluded to in backstory,  or an extension of a canon event.  It's basically a trope exclusive TO that fandom, since it's that specific canon event or backstory   people keep writing about. 

Two forms this can take are AUs (as previously mentioned) and fix-its (which I also love). 

- I don't think there's a trope name for this, but I appreciate storylines where conflict isn't about miscommunications, but instead the simple fact that one conversation can't resolve the issue. I enjoy the complexity.

- Don't think there's a name for this either, but I've appreciated the rise in supportive female exes and former love interests (sometimes one-sided) in M/M fiction. Thinking specifically of Our Flag Means Death, Schitt's Creek, Heartstopper and Heated Rivalry.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #9

Jan. 17th, 2026 08:01 am
thatjustwontbreak: snowflake challenge (snowflake challenge)
[personal profile] thatjustwontbreak posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge

Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 * Challenge #7 * Challenge #8 *



Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #9 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.


six things make a post

Jan. 15th, 2026 09:14 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird

In no particular order:

*Last night, I talked with [personal profile] cattitude and [personal profile] adrian_turtle about possible text for my mother's gravestone. I emailed this to my brother today, with a note that these were what I was thinking of.

*I went to TJ Maxx to look for slippers. Disappointingly, there were none that came close to fitting: the ones that might have been in my size were all significantly too tight across the top of my foot. I was wearing thin socks (specifically, lightweight compression socks). It continues to be annoying that not buying slippers (for example) is as tiring as buying some.

*Also, my hips started hurting while I was in the store, so I decided not to look for other things, but headed home with only a quick stop at CVS, and not a grocery store.

*Today was definitely a good day to be outside; yesterday wasn't particularly, and tomorrow is likely to be a lot colder than today (with an afternoon high a little below freezing, so not horrible for January in Boston).

*I got email today from state senator Pat Jehlen, about a bill to ban the use of masks by law enforcement. This is noteworthy because I haven't lived in her district since 2019, and didn't think I was still on her mailing list.

*The skin on my fingertips, and on the rest of my hands, is doing a lot better. I will need to remember to keep applying the serious lotion, so it doesn't start splitting again. However, my shoulder is bothering me, which may be from doing a lot of mousing when I was avoiding using the keyboard.

redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
As is sometimes the case, I only heard about Christie and his part in the anti-apartheid fight after he died.

Renfrew Christie was a white South African scientist and member of the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. He went to Oxford University and studied South Africa's history of electrification "so I could get into the electricity supply commission’s library and archives, and work out how much electricity they were using to enrich uranium," he told the BBC. That in turn let them figure out how much enriched uranium South Africa had, and many bombs it could build.

When he returned to South Africa, he was arrested and, after 48 hours of torture, wrote a forced confession, which he told the BBC was the best thing he ever wrote

noting that he had made sure the confession included “all my recommendations to the African National Congress” about the best way to sabotage Koeberg and other facilities.

“And, gloriously, the judge read it out in court,” Dr. Christie added. “So my recommendations went from the judge’s mouth” straight to the A.N.C.


Christie died of pneumonia last month, at the age of 76.

I'm linking to [personal profile] siderea's post, which includes the text of the (paywalled) NY Times obituary.

(no subject)

Jan. 15th, 2026 08:16 am
author_by_night: (From Pexels)
[personal profile] author_by_night
Snowflake Challenge #8: Talk about your creative process.





I don't know that I have a set process, but here are the things that help me:

- Music. I actually can't listen to music while writing, though I sometimes listen to it when doing other creative tasks. But I get a lot of inspiration from music.

- Stress. Yes. You read that right. I think it's that creative projects help me unwind and recalibrate, so it's easy to be creative when I actually have zero time to be creative, because I need that brief outlet.

Though sometimes I really am just too busy, and there's nothing to be done.

- When it comes to writing specifically, I would say that I ask myself questions. I also try allowing the story to tell itself. I have set out to write funny stories, ended up with tearjerkers that left me sobbing. I think in both cases, on the surface the ideas were fun, but as I really delved into what those situations could potentially look like, I uncovered darker and sadder things. 

 

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #8

Jan. 15th, 2026 10:09 am
scribblemoose: image of moose with pen and paper (Default)
[personal profile] scribblemoose posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post*
Meet the Mods Post

Challenge #1
Challenge #2
Challenge #3
Challenge #4
Challenge #5
Challenge #6
Challenge #7

Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.


Challenge #8 )


And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on. 

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.


inherited IRA, part too many

Jan. 14th, 2026 04:56 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
I thought that all the money had been transferred from my mother's IRA account at BNY to my account at Fidelity at the end of December.

Last week, I got a message from Fidelity saying that a transfer couldn't be completed, and BNY needed to talk to me. That message was _exactly_ the same as the one I got in November, so I wasn't even sure this was a real thing rather than a glitch.

After several days of wrestling with phone trees and leaving messages with my advisor at Fidelity, I tried BNY again this afternoon. That wound up being a long phone call, including a long time on hold while the person I was talking to looked things up.

What he was able to tell me is that there is some amount of money greater than zero still in my mother's name at BNY, possibly capital gains on the money they had already transferred. The person I was talking to said he couldn't tell me how much, but that based on this call, I could have Fidelity call BNY and tell them to transfer this money.

But that would be too simple: Fidelity said they would need a current statement on the account. So, back to BNY, whose system is set up to provide information to people with accounts they can log into. The available workaround is for them to send me a request form, and for me to attach a copy of my mother's death certificate, and my driver's license, and then I should have it in 1-5 business days.

In the meantime, I have emailed my brother, who told me that any amount of money still in Mom's name in 2026 would complicate things for him as executor. (I was pleased to be able to email him on December 30 and tell him that the transfer had finally been completed.)

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #7

Jan. 13th, 2026 02:58 pm
teaotter: two hands in red mittens cup a snowball in the shape of a heart (snowhands)
[personal profile] teaotter posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
Introduction Post * Meet the Mods Post * Challenge #1 * Challenge #2 * Challenge #3 * Challenge #4 * Challenge #5 * Challenge #6 *


Remember that there is no official deadline, so feel free to join in at any time, or go back and do challenges you've missed.

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #7 )

And please do check out the comments for all the awesome participants of the challenge and visit their journals/challenge responses to comment on their posts and cheer them on.

And just as a reminder: this is a low pressure, fun challenge. If you aren't comfortable doing a particular challenge, then don't. We aren't keeping track of who does what.

two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Kesimpta prescription

Jan. 13th, 2026 05:14 pm
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
[personal profile] redbird
I have just been pleasantly surprised by a health insurance company: they aren't requiring "prior authorization" for my Kesimpta prescription. The person I spoke to this afternoon checked whether I had any of the drug left (no), and whether I'd missed a dose, before arranging delivery for Thursday morning. This is the drug whose copay will meet the 2026 out-of-pocket maximum. Yes, I selected a plan in large part based on the prescription drug coverage.

The Challenge is Coming...

Jan. 13th, 2026 01:24 pm
tjs_whatnot: (Default)
[personal profile] tjs_whatnot posting in [community profile] snowflake_challenge
 I promise!

Our volunteers are from all over the world and have lots of different schedules so we can't always guarantee to have it at the same time each time. I know the last one was really late and that has made everyone (me included) nervous, but it is going up today within the next two hours. Thank you for reaching out. ❤️❤️

Fandom Snowflake Challenge #6

Jan. 12th, 2026 08:23 pm
tjs_whatnot: (Default)
[personal profile] tjs_whatnot
 
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text




Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge.

Cheating big time! But finding the Top 10 books I read this year was too daunting (even when I cheated and counted a whole series as one 😍). So here, have a few Top 10s. These are all books I've read this year (mostly). I didn't count re-reads (of which there were many and would have skewed the results drastically).

Queer Male Romances  )
 

*and yes, I loved that their were two re-tellings of Pride and Prejudice in there. ❤️❤️

Mixed Bag )
 
 
If you want to talk about ANY of these books, I am HERE for it! If you want to give me recommendations based on these lists I'm also here for that! ❤️❤️

 

📖💔🐟🐯

Jan. 12th, 2026 02:42 pm
bluedreaming: (pseudonym - tinyfingers)
[personal profile] bluedreaming
That feeling when you’re reading a cnovel that’s actively being translated and you’ve caught up to the most recent chapter and you almost can’t bear to read it

it’s so good! and we’re only about halfway! though maybe if there are lots of extras like the first novel we’re closer to the narrative climax of at least this arc? but who knows

More Snowflake

Jan. 11th, 2026 09:04 pm
author_by_night: (I really need a new userpic)
[personal profile] author_by_night
 Challenge #6

Top 10 Challenge. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.

The category(ies) you choose are up to you. You can give top 10 Fics you read last year, the top 10 songs to create to, the to 10 guest stars on your favorite show, top 10 characters in your favorite book series, top 10... well, you get the idea.


 Let's see.. how about Ten Takes? 

1. From what I remember of The Hunger Games, I never understood people saying there was a "love triangle". It seemed clear to me that Katniss was never into Gale, and she only played into the concept of love triangle because of the reality TV show District 13 had them doing.

2. Given everything that was supposed to happen to Inara, I'm actually kind of relieved there was only one season of Firefly. Kind of. There's a good chance the network never would've allowed half of it anyway.

3. I'm kind of surprised there don't seem to be many former Firefly fans in the Our Flag Means Death fandom, from what I can tell. I think they're actually quite similar. (Even the second season of OFMD being darker mirrored Serenity being darker than the original show. Funny how that worked.)

4. Buffy: I wish that Willow's descent had actually focused more on her going to drastic extremes to fight the good fight, as well as her trauma, rather than "magic as a drug metaphor". The fact that Willow originally became a witch to honor Jenny Calendar is huge, and that's what I think they could've worked with.

5. I don't like either Spike or Angel for Buffy. Sorry! I kind of wish she'd ended up with Faith. I saw chemistry between them when I watched S3 for the first time, without any exposure to Fuffy whatsoever. (Which is interesting, because I was spoiled for practically everything except Faith.)

6. I have a headcanon - which I may eventually turn into a fic - that Cordy, Fred and Tara banded together and are kicking ass in an alternate dimension. Maybe a parallel version of Willow is also there.

7. I think Kevin Can Fuck Himself is woefully underrated, and if it had received half the recognition it deserved, it would've sparked a lot of interesting conversation. 

8.   I think David and Patrick from Schitt's Creek are one of the best couples on television. No pun intended re: "the best". Also, I see a bit of myself in David (I just told a friend I'm David Rose in a Ted Mullens costume), so I appreciate seeing him finding love and friendship, even if he is basically the inside of a roasted marshmallow. 

9. But as much as I love David and Patrick, I think Alexis deserves more love in the fandom. She changes so much over the course of the show. 

9.  I don't want to spoil anyone for Heated Rivalry, so I'll just say I love how the third episode dealt with an extremely complicated situation. Lani Diane Rich once said that a great love story is when a conversation can't fix a problem, and that episode was an example.

10. There are two scenes where Ilya opens up in different ways - again, wording this carefully so as not to spoil. I love both of them.

Also, "Canadian Wolf Bird" will forever live in my head rent free.

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