Did get this crescent-shaped lens flare, while not looking at it, but it didn't really feel like I was watching it.

I never got it really good. I'm wondering if the holes are too close together or if there was a knack I didn't figure out. I'm glad I noticed the shadows of the bushes on the wall!

The eclipse gave me a kiss 🥰

If your colander holes are casting round shadows and you know the sun is already partially occluded, hold the colander a bit further away! The instructions I saw did not mention distance

Here's Puck helping me adjust my setup

Has August harmed you or someone you love? We want to hear about it!

I'm been very ill for a few weeks and last year I also got very ill for a few weeks in August

Currently accepting theories about whether August is cursed or not 🧐

Here's the map of where the solar eclipse will be visible on 12th August

https://nso.edu/for-public/eclipse-map-2026/

Someone on my train, who I read as a Fancy Lady, cracked out a kilogram(!) tub of greek yoghurt and proceeded to spoon some yoghurt and granola out into two plastic bowls, for her and her friend to have their Fancy Lady breakfasts on the go. Travelling in style.

Maybe The Beep will never stop and I'll be the one to move out!

In case you were wondering, yes, it's still beeping.

I've emailed the electric company ("Can you please come and stop the beeping? Thanks!"), I've spoken to the old estate agent and the new estate agent and the people who the new estate agent contracts to take pictures.

I don't think there's any good reason why this should still be beeping, I think the roadblock is 100% apathy on all sides apart from mine. But I have actually got quite used to it by now, even though that seemed impossible at first.

I don't think I'll quite miss The Beep when it's gone, but I wonder if it will miss me.

We've reached the point in the story where I've sent an email containing the words

"Can you please come and stop the beeping? Thanks!"

Oh nothing, just hanging out with my roommate, The Beep. We live together now. It was a bit of an adjustment period at first, but I'm learning to appreciate the reminder once a minute that I'm still alive.

Neighbour has moved out. It's still beeping.

My neighbour is moving out, and still taping boxes after it's got dark, so presumably she's having a day.

Her smoke alarm has been beeping once a minute for the last 24 hours.

It feels like it's physically hurting me. I obviously need to say something, right? I need to say something.

I keep thinking about what if she leaves and the place is empty for weeks and it just chirps every minute until my head explodes.

I just used a new website that required me to sign up for an account, and the first thing it asked me for was my phone number. I reluctantly entered my phone number. It then *emailed* me a verification code that I had to enter. I did not give them my email address, but they knew it and I got the code.

How did they get my email address? and are people okay with this? This is not okay!

(Not a rhetorical question, I actually would like to know how they got my email address when I've never used the website before. Thanks :))

Cucumber green spider, dangling from its web in the woods!

Look them up, they're a cutie

RE: https://mas.to/@fleuron/116436901249523435

I just went to a poetry workshop where we got a writing prompt, each wrote a poem for five minutes, tore up the poems and put them all in a bucket, grabbed a fragment, used that as the prompt for the next poem we wrote, and so on for multiple rounds. It was really cool, but really hard to lean into properly losing the old poem. (This time I took pictures before I ripped them up, as emotional preparation for fully losing them next time I try)

"In societies with very low fertility and rapid ageing, migration is not an exception: it is a structural component of demographic balance. Countries such as Germany, Canada and Australia have maintained economic dynamism thanks in part to their ability to attract and integrate skilled migrants. Those who close themselves off in a demographically restricted world risk reducing their productive and fiscal base just as the burden of pension and healthcare spending increases."

https://www.businessday.co.za/opinion/2026-03-24-francesco-billari-global-politics-is-at-odds-with-demography/

Super interesting, but this kind of approach does make me wonder what happens to the countries that the migrants are leaving, and what will we do once all those countries have gone through demographic contraction. Feels a little extractive? Though I do think the author is saying there's a burden on receiving countries to make migrants more welcome.

Hello, I've got a question for people who know things about drinks and flavours.

I have really been enjoying ginger kombucha recently, but it's very expensive, and I'm curious if there's a concentrated shelf stable thing I can buy so I can afford to drink interesting things at home. I don't think I can manage fermenting my own, and I don't want very sugary or any non-negligible amount of alcohol (I'm okay with the level in kombucha). Ideally it's sour or bitter or spicy, or a combination.

I had an alcohol-free cider and it was good but way too sweet, the same with a ginger syrup I mixed into sparkling water, and I would love something less sugary. I sometimes put a few drops of lime juice in sparkling water and that's nice but it's less complex so a bit less interesting to me.

I'm hoping there's a world of possibilities I don't know about. Please introduce me to it :)

(alternatively, if there's chemical reasons why what I want isn't possible, I'm equally curious to learn the science!)

Thanks friends

I recently saw people freshening up the double yellow lines on the streets near my house, and I was amazed to see that they are painted manually and separately!

Just a guy wheeling a little contraption that dribbles the paint out, drawing a line freehand. Then wheeling it again, drawing a second line that follows the first.

I hope this is as exciting to you as it was to me.