By golly, they ARE crocuses!

Only I could be this surprised by something I clearly planned for, planted, and carefully protected not four months ago.

yellow crocus )

I love a good crocus (apparently) but the dwarf irises are also stunning. And the first to bloom!

purple iris )

Daphne and I were at this boat launch yesterday and there was still too much ice to put a craft in the water. Which makes today ice out!

(Ice out is usually a lake thing, the first date when every dock or landing on the lake is free of ice in the spring, but I feel fine applying it to a single river launch.)

the surface of the water is moving again )

Yesterday I performed my random spot check of winter sown seed containers and I found a live one! There are sprouts in the container labeled "blue flax"! I do not know what blue flax is, but I hope I will find out this year.

blue flax germination )

I was taking Daphne to a park this evening, but we stopped at this boat launch instead. It's an "all-tide" boat launch next to an overpass that was built on ferry right-of-ways. The beach under the overpass is always pretty, but especially when the sun streams in as it sets.

sunset )
March! I'm like the gray cat in that meme where it's looking in one direction going, "What was that?!" and then the image is flipped so it's looking in the other direction going, "What was that?!"

Those cannas are up because of course they are, a couple of dwarf irises bloomed in the front garden this week (first flowers!) and the mystery sprouts out back are definitely probably crocuses. Just, maybe, very large crocuses? One of them has a bud so we'll know for sure soon. Yay crocuses!

Also I just ordered a DNA test for Daphne, my head hurts, and 75fluent starts on Tuesday. Luckily I've already given up so it shouldn't be too hard. None of those things are related. I mean, I assume.

Ima go to sleep but know that I love you ♥
([syndicated profile] otw_news_feed Mar. 28th, 2026 12:02 pm)

Posted by an

Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works.

In the News

An article published in February in the Dublin Inquirer highlights the fannish origins of author Diane Duane and how her experiences writing fanfiction influenced her career.

Inspired by a deep love of the (at the time) newly airing Star Trek: The Original Series, Duane began to craft stories featuring her favourite characters. Like many fans discovering a new world for the first time, she turned to storytelling as a way to explore it more deeply. The skills she developed while writing these stories would help her build a decades-long career as an author.

Duane found herself writing Trek “fan-fiction” – although, she says, she didn’t know that’s what it was called then.

Taking a sip of her cabernet sauvignon, she remembers her first effort as a crossover between Trek and musical sitcom The Monkees.

“I don’t know why I’m even admitting this in a public place, but it’s true,” she says, laughing.

Duane’s writing credits include novels and screenwriting work for well-known series from the Marvel, DC Comics and Disney franchises in addition to her original work. She remains engaged with the Star Trek fandom, enjoying the franchise’s recent series, Strange New Worlds.


Not all coverage is good coverage: When media threatens fandom takes a look at how sudden mainstream visibility can disrupt long‑standing fandom etiquette and trust built within fandom communities.

Using a recent article featured in Dexerto and the subsequent online backlash as an example, the author argues that when large media outlets introduce fanworks to broader, uninvolved audiences it can disrupt a community based on shared norms, and mutual understanding.

Fandom spaces used to be private, and fandom etiquette previously outlined a set of rules for fans. Now, media exposure turns these online communities mainstream, posing problems for authors when fan works are often created quietly and out of admiration for the source material — not a desire for attention.

The author stresses that ethical reporting on fandom requires recognizing fandom as a legitimate cultural practice that is shaped by decades of participatory storytelling, shared values, and communal identity.

OTW Tips

If you like keeping up with OTW news, our News by Email service has a new subscription option! It now has the ability to email you whenever volunteer recruitment opens. These emails are available only in English. Sign up to stay connected with the latest from the OTW! If you are already subscribed to our News by Email service and would like to change your subscription (to add this option or change it in some other way), contact Communications. They will be able to help you adjust your current subscription type.


We want your suggestions for the next OTW Signal post! If you know of an essay, video, article, podcast, or news story you think we should know about, send us a link. We are looking for content in all languages! Submitting a link doesn’t guarantee that it will be included in an OTW post, and inclusion of a link doesn’t mean that it is endorsed by the OTW.

([syndicated profile] otw_news_feed Mar. 25th, 2026 08:13 pm)

Posted by Elintiriel

SlasHeaven, a Spanish-language slash fanfiction and fanart archive, is being imported to the Archive of Our Own (AO3).

In this post:

Background explanation

SlasHeaven was founded on May 19, 2004, by the programmer and main promoter of the archive, Ayesha, and two collaborators, Maryam and Aura. This began after a massive deletion of fanfiction slash written in Spanish at a popular platform and with the conviction that we needed a place where we could publish in our language without restrictions. And so this website was born, a place dedicated exclusively to slash fanfiction written in Spanish.

SlasHeaven’s archivist made the decision to move the archive to AO3 after web configuration issues made it untenable to continue maintaining the archive themselves.

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 Maryam and Aura to import SlasHeaven into a separate, searchable collection on the Archive of Our Own. As part of preserving the archive in its entirety, any fanart currently hosted by SlasHeaven will be hosted on the OTW’s servers, and embedded in their own AO3 work pages.

We will begin importing works from SlasHeaven to AO3 after March. 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 SlasHeaven?

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 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 SlasHeaven 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 AO3, or would NOT like your works added to the archive collection.
  5. You are happy for us to preserve your works on 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 SlasHeaven 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 SlasHeaven mods 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 SlasHeaven 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 SlasHeaven!

– The Open Doors team and Maryam and Aura

Commenting on this post will be disabled in 14 days, on April 8, 2026. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments regarding this import after that date, please contact Open Doors.

starandrea: (Default)
([personal profile] starandrea Mar. 24th, 2026 07:37 pm)
Potted a few of the cannas today. They're supposed to need three weeks to put out some roots and get their heads above soil. "So probably three days," Marci says.

picture )

One of my neighbors asked if I'd started planting yet, and I said I wished it was warm enough to bring things out because I'm running out of room inside. He said, "Your thumb is too green."

picture )

Daphne and I went to the park tonight and the sun was very kind. The weather was nice enough that she didn't have to wear a coat, and she had a great time frolicking in the field at the top of the hill. And on our way down we were visited by the brightest sundog I've ever seen! Even my phone camera was able to capture some of the color.

pictures )

Finally, I'm really enjoying Duolingo's new units on hiking.

picture )

Posted by Lute

AO3 Tag Wranglers continue to test processes for wrangling canonical additional tags (tags that appear in the auto-complete) which don’t belong to any particular fandom (also known as “No Fandom” tags). This post overviews some of these upcoming changes.

In this round of updates, we continued to streamline creating new canonical tags, prioritizing more straightforward updates which would have less discussion compared to renaming current canonical tags or creating new canonical tags which touch on more complex topics. This method also reviews new tags on a regular basis, so check back on AO3 News for periodic “No Fandom” tag announcements.

None of these updates change the tags users have added to works. If a user-created tag is considered to have the same meaning as a new canonical, it will be made a synonym of one of these newly created canonical tags, and works with that user-created tag will appear when the canonical tag is selected.

In short, these changes only affect which tags appear in AO3’s auto-complete and filters. You can and should continue to tag your works however you prefer.

New Canonicals

The following concepts have been made new canonical tags:

In Conclusion

While some of these tags may be tags and concepts you’re intimately familiar with, others may be concepts you’ve never heard of before. Fortunately, our fellow OTW volunteers at Fanlore may be able to help! As you may have seen in the comments sections of previous posts, Fanlore is a fantastic resource for learning more about these common fandom concepts, and about the history and lore of fandom in general. For the curious, here’s a quick look at a few articles about concepts related to this month’s new canonical tags:

While we won’t be announcing every change we make to No Fandom canonical tags, you can expect similar updates in the future about tags we believe will most affect users. If you’re interested in the changes we’ll be making, you can continue to check AO3 News or follow us on Bluesky @wranglers.archiveofourown.org or Tumblr @ao3org for future announcements.

You can also read previous updates on “No Fandom” tags as well as other wrangling updates, linked below:

For more information about AO3’s tag system, check out our Tags FAQ.

In addition to providing technical help, AO3 Support also handles requests related to how tags are sorted and connected.​ If you have questions about specific tags, which were first used over a month ago and are unrelated to any of the new canonical tags listed above, please contact Support instead of leaving a comment on this post.

Please keep in mind that discussions about what tags to canonize and what format they should take are ongoing. As a result, not all related concepts will be canonized at the same time. This does not mean that related or similar concepts will not be canonized in the future or that we have chosen to canonize one specific concept in lieu of another, simply that we likely either haven’t gotten to that related concept yet or that it needs further discussion and will take a bit longer for us to canonize it as a result. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Lastly, we’re still working on implementing changes and connecting relevant user-created tags to these new canonicals, so it’ll be some time before these updates are complete. If you have questions about specific tags which should be connected to these new canonicals, please refrain from contacting Support about them until at least three months from now to give us adequate time to do so.

starandrea: (Default)
([personal profile] starandrea Mar. 22nd, 2026 02:41 pm)
today's bilingualisms

♥ Stella: “不要judge我的化妆技术。”

"Don't judge my makeup skills.

♥ 竹子:“我用筷子 - uh-oh - 我用筷子夹黄瓜,有点难夹住。”(“我hold不住笑。”)

"I'm using chopstics - uh-oh - I'm using chopsticks to pick up cucumber, it's a little hard." ("I can't help laughing.")

♥ Cherry:“。。。加一杯黑咖啡,actually it's 美式咖啡我觉得。”

"...with black coffee, actually it's American coffee I think."

♥ Dawn’s guest:“他们那个音乐一响起来,那个welcome to 西双版纳就是特别吸引人。”

"When their music starts playing, that welcome to Xishuanbanna really draws you in."
Tags:
♥ Garden update:

Holding steady with 8* out of 22 dahlias sprouted at the two-week mark. (They're gonna need more space and more light.) 2 of 3 canna boxes are still sleeping; I will probably give in and pot some of the more reckless from the top box tomorrow. (They don't need as much light as dahlias, and I do have extra soil, if not space.)

ETA: 12 hours later there's 9 and I genuinely don't know which one is the new one.

Cleaned up some leaves and old pumpkins from the side and dogwood gardens today, pruned the crabapple and montauk daisies yesterday. Still watching the maybe crocus/scilla sprouts in the rock garden, no further evidence at this time. (Now I am even side-eyeing the chiondoxa: maybe it's daffodils this year! Who knows! Apparently not me.)

pictures )

♥ Miscellaneous notes:

What America Could Learn From Asia's Robot Revolution, article adapted from Candi K. Cann's book augmented. I found the "conclusion" particularly memorable:

"To me, this is the crux of why Americans have such a hard time accepting robots and other new technologies into our everyday lives, and why our science fiction is filled with stories of humans versus robots. In the United States, robots are viewed as soulless, unlike in Asia, where they are viewed as soul-possible or soul-different. For those who cling to the notion of human exceptionalism, if robots could be viewed as sentient, then perhaps humans are not that special after all. Until we take seriously the ways in which our cultural and religious heritages inspire and impede our attitudes toward technologies, the development of these technologies will remain the realm of only a select few."

Finally, Duolingo has added "B2" levels to its Chinese course as A/B. For once I am on the exciting side of A/B testing, so I got to bump my level from 100 to 130 yesterday. According to last year's Duocon, there are no current plans to add further content after B2, but Duolingo has defined levels up to C2/160.

...What does this mean? idk, but probably owls all the way down.
Things my Gen Z High School students said while playing The Oregon Trail (youtube short by JahnifestDestiny)

The best thing about this video is this description of the game by a commenter:

"Oregon Trail: The game that unites students with the realization that they are NOT prepared to travel all the way to Oregon in a car, let alone a covered wagon in the 1850s."

The second best thing about this video is that there are eight more popular comments before someone says:
"'my Gen z high school students' says the Gen z teacher"

And the following classic exchange, which still made me laugh:

"The Oregon Trail isn't 40 years old I was born in 1985."
"As someone also born in 1985, have I got news for you..."
starandrea: (Default)
([personal profile] starandrea Mar. 20th, 2026 12:06 am)
tip: try not to get so sick you lose your voice the same week you start a speaking challenge.

relatedly, apps that will let you whisper: duolingo, of course, since duolingo doesn't really care what you say and gives you points for trying no matter what you mumble at it. (thanks duolingo!)

apps that will fail you for whispering: talkpal, superchinese.

apps that will let you do something other than speak to keep your streak: ironically, speakchinese.

good news, recordings for the htlal output challenge only have to exist to count, regardless of content or quality. I have recorded at least an hour of me whispering this week.

tomorrow is day six!!

Posted by an

Transformative Works and Cultures has released Issue No. 47, a special issue on Gaming Fandom guest edited by Hayley McCullough and Ashley P. Jones.

Essays in this issue explore fan creativity in gaming fandoms and discuss a number of fan-made works and productions, including fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, mods, and fan-made games.

Each issue includes articles representing theory, fannish meta, and book reviews, such as:

We accept submissions for our general issues on a rolling basis. We particularly invite fans to submit Symposium articles.

TWC’s issues in progress include:

We accept submissions for our general issues on a rolling basis. The general issue is always released on September 15.

starandrea: (Default)
([personal profile] starandrea Mar. 17th, 2026 09:11 pm)
Me: Internet, how long do dahlias take to sprout?
Internet: Could be two months, but probably only one. Maybe as little as two weeks if they're the right variety in the right conditions.

It has been ELEVEN DAYS. 7 out of 22 containers have little dahlia sprouts, and by "little" I mean the biggest one has FOUR LEAVES ALREADY. I cleared off a shelf in the utility room and snapped my one spare magnetic grow light to the shelf above, plugged it into a Christmas tree timer* in the hallway, and squeezed in all but 7 pots. (The four that had sprouted by yesterday are still on their succulent shelves, and the three I judge least likely to succeed are sitting on a box near the light for monitoring.)

I did a little garden tidying, but the ground is still too frozen for digging (despite the daffodils coming up everywhere, plus some red sprouts that must be tulips, yay my daffodil protection circle worked) so bad news for the boxes of cannas by the back door: they are headed for the garage tomorrow morning. If I have to cart them back and forth from the garage to the house to keep them from freezing overnight I will, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to insulate them enough that they can weather a few freezing nights on their own.

plants and puppy )

*All the lights have to be on timers, otherwise it's like Wei Ying's tomatoes in that one where Lan Zhan is a wolf and keeps judgmentally turning his plant lights on and off for him. I have absolutely thought to myself, "oh I turned the lights on late this morning, surely I should leave them on late tonight to make up for it!"
.

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