Economics
Feb. 5th, 2026 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe Impact Fee Illusion
Why “growth paying for growth” often leaves cities weaker, not stronger.
The public discussion usually starts something like this: a new development brings new residents, more traffic, and greater demand for public services. Roads, schools, pipes, and parks don’t build themselves. Someone has to pay for them. Asking growth to pay for growth sounds fair. It sounds prudent. And yet, many cities that rely heavily on impact fees still find themselves financially fragile. They struggle to maintain infrastructure, stretch operations thin, and quietly drift toward insolvency.
( Read more... )
Why “growth paying for growth” often leaves cities weaker, not stronger.
The public discussion usually starts something like this: a new development brings new residents, more traffic, and greater demand for public services. Roads, schools, pipes, and parks don’t build themselves. Someone has to pay for them. Asking growth to pay for growth sounds fair. It sounds prudent. And yet, many cities that rely heavily on impact fees still find themselves financially fragile. They struggle to maintain infrastructure, stretch operations thin, and quietly drift toward insolvency.
( Read more... )
Food
Feb. 5th, 2026 06:20 pmysabetwordsmithThis simple diet shift cut 330 calories a day without smaller meals
People who switch to a fully unprocessed diet don’t just eat differently—they eat smarter. Research from the University of Bristol shows that when people avoid ultra-processed foods, they naturally pile their plates with fruits and vegetables, eating over 50% more food by weight while still consuming hundreds fewer calories each day. This happens because whole foods trigger a kind of built-in “nutritional intelligence,” nudging people toward nutrient-rich, lower-calorie options.
( Read more... )
People who switch to a fully unprocessed diet don’t just eat differently—they eat smarter. Research from the University of Bristol shows that when people avoid ultra-processed foods, they naturally pile their plates with fruits and vegetables, eating over 50% more food by weight while still consuming hundreds fewer calories each day. This happens because whole foods trigger a kind of built-in “nutritional intelligence,” nudging people toward nutrient-rich, lower-calorie options.
( Read more... )
Birdfeeding
Feb. 5th, 2026 06:14 pmysabetwordsmithToday is cloudy and cold.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, one female and three male cardinals, and a starling. A small flock of other birds high in the trees may have been more starlings or perhaps mourning doves.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, one female and three male cardinals, and a starling. A small flock of other birds high in the trees may have been more starlings or perhaps mourning doves.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/5/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
Community Thursdays
Feb. 5th, 2026 12:24 amysabetwordsmithThis year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...
* Posted "What Are Couple Goals And How Do We Achieve Them?" in![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
goals_on_dw.
* Posted "Sighting a Siberian Superstar: Local birder secures rare red-flanked bluetail for life list" inbirdfeeding.
* Commented inawesomeers.
* Posted "What Are Couple Goals And How Do We Achieve Them?" in
goals_on_dw.* Posted "Sighting a Siberian Superstar: Local birder secures rare red-flanked bluetail for life list" in
birdfeeding.* Commented in
awesomeers.Wildlife
Feb. 4th, 2026 10:02 pmysabetwordsmithWhat is the American red wolf?
The American red wolf is the world’s most endangered. This species is found only in the United States, and fewer than 20 remain in the wild. It is one of the most endangered mammals on Earth.
Now, an unprecedented partnership between universities, government agencies, and biotechnology companies is using the latest genetic tools to save this iconic predator from extinction. The effort represents a new model for how technology may reshape wildlife conservation in the decades ahead.
The American red wolf is the world’s most endangered. This species is found only in the United States, and fewer than 20 remain in the wild. It is one of the most endangered mammals on Earth.
Now, an unprecedented partnership between universities, government agencies, and biotechnology companies is using the latest genetic tools to save this iconic predator from extinction. The effort represents a new model for how technology may reshape wildlife conservation in the decades ahead.
Birdfeeding
Feb. 4th, 2026 09:58 pmysabetwordsmithToday is cloudy and cold.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, several cardinals, and a starling.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/426 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/426 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, several cardinals, and a starling.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 2/426 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
EDIT 2/426 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
Cuddle Party
Feb. 4th, 2026 09:52 pmysabetwordsmithEveryone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
( Read more... )
We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!
( Read more... )
Minor operations; testing new serving path
Feb. 3rd, 2026 10:25 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceHi all!
I'm doing some minor operational work tonight. It should be transparent, but there's always a chance that something goes wrong. The main thing I'm touching is testing a replacement for Apache2 (our web server software) in one area of the site.
Thank you!
Poem: "The Evolution of Self-Publishing"
Feb. 3rd, 2026 10:08 pmysabetwordsmithThis is today's freebie. It was inspired by a prompt from elinox. It also fills the "Breaking the Rules" square in my 2-1-26 card for the Valentines Bingo fest.
( Read more... )
elinox. It also fills the "Breaking the Rules" square in my 2-1-26 card for the Valentines Bingo fest.( Read more... )
Poetry Fishbowl Open!
Feb. 3rd, 2026 01:01 pmysabetwordsmithThe Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Books and Literacy." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting ideas for readers, writers, storytellers, scribes, editors, publishers, students, teachers, caregivers, children, parents, bookworms, nerds, bookstore owners, librarians, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, superheroes, supervillains, other bookish people, reading, writing, delighting the reader, editing, publishing, bookbinding, shopping for books, telling stories, teaching, inviting students to a lesson, demonstrating tools, educating the whole child, learning, studying, parenting, lending a hand, cooperating, concentrating on a current task, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, respecting people, modeling manners and skills, learning to trust others, observing the environment, engaging all the senses, cultivating a full life, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, choosing your own goals, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, making mistakes, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, other educational activities, books, scrolls, magical tomes, printing presses, pens and pencils, bookstores, libraries, Little Free Libraries, book nooks, windowseats, Montessori schools, other alternative schools, preschools or daycares, Montessori homeschool, prepared environment, colleges and universities, beautiful places, craft centers, community centers, coffeehouses, outdoor classrooms, parks, nature centers, other spaces designed for learning, Triton Teen Centers, mentor circles, intentional communities, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, the Aqademy of the Qrossroads, Waldorf toys, Montessori materials, intrinsic motivation, child independence, respect for the child, freedom to choose, freedom of time and uninterrupted work periods, absorbent mind, post-traumatic growth, individualized education, three-part cards, language lessons, mathematics, diverse ages and abilities, self-correcting toys and lessons, natural consequences, freedom of movement, intentional neighboring, diversity, inclusivity, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Valentines Bingo Card 2-1-26
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
An Army of One involves education and reading in the Lacuna.
Arts and Crafts America focuses on fine arts and practical crafts, sometimes education. Bookbinding would be a logical craft.
The Bear Tunnels has future books in a past culture.
Daughters of the Apocalypse have to rediscover many historic skills for survival, including earlier methods of sharing knowledge.
Frankenstein's Family has two scientists teaching villagers to be thoughtful instead of stupid, and after a few years, several more people keenly interested in books and education.
Not Quite Kansas started with mishandling a book of spells, and involves trying to learn about a whole new world.
Path of the Paladins includes the Canticle of Thorns and other books.
Peculiar Obligations has Quakers in organized crime. The Religious Society of Friends has been greatly involved in education, including abolitionist and natural science publications.
Polychrome Heroics is largely about people learning things. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Danso and Family, Dr. Infanta, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.
Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully. It includes a healthy magical school.
Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they learn a lot along the way.
Or you can ask for something new.
Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.
( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Books and Literacy." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.
I'll be soliciting ideas for readers, writers, storytellers, scribes, editors, publishers, students, teachers, caregivers, children, parents, bookworms, nerds, bookstore owners, librarians, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, superheroes, supervillains, other bookish people, reading, writing, delighting the reader, editing, publishing, bookbinding, shopping for books, telling stories, teaching, inviting students to a lesson, demonstrating tools, educating the whole child, learning, studying, parenting, lending a hand, cooperating, concentrating on a current task, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, respecting people, modeling manners and skills, learning to trust others, observing the environment, engaging all the senses, cultivating a full life, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, choosing your own goals, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, making mistakes, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, other educational activities, books, scrolls, magical tomes, printing presses, pens and pencils, bookstores, libraries, Little Free Libraries, book nooks, windowseats, Montessori schools, other alternative schools, preschools or daycares, Montessori homeschool, prepared environment, colleges and universities, beautiful places, craft centers, community centers, coffeehouses, outdoor classrooms, parks, nature centers, other spaces designed for learning, Triton Teen Centers, mentor circles, intentional communities, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, the Aqademy of the Qrossroads, Waldorf toys, Montessori materials, intrinsic motivation, child independence, respect for the child, freedom to choose, freedom of time and uninterrupted work periods, absorbent mind, post-traumatic growth, individualized education, three-part cards, language lessons, mathematics, diverse ages and abilities, self-correcting toys and lessons, natural consequences, freedom of movement, intentional neighboring, diversity, inclusivity, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.
Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:
Valentines Bingo Card 2-1-26
Among my more relevant series for the main theme:
An Army of One involves education and reading in the Lacuna.
Arts and Crafts America focuses on fine arts and practical crafts, sometimes education. Bookbinding would be a logical craft.
The Bear Tunnels has future books in a past culture.
Daughters of the Apocalypse have to rediscover many historic skills for survival, including earlier methods of sharing knowledge.
Frankenstein's Family has two scientists teaching villagers to be thoughtful instead of stupid, and after a few years, several more people keenly interested in books and education.
Not Quite Kansas started with mishandling a book of spells, and involves trying to learn about a whole new world.
Path of the Paladins includes the Canticle of Thorns and other books.
Peculiar Obligations has Quakers in organized crime. The Religious Society of Friends has been greatly involved in education, including abolitionist and natural science publications.
Polychrome Heroics is largely about people learning things. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Danso and Family, Dr. Infanta, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.
Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully. It includes a healthy magical school.
Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they learn a lot along the way.
Or you can ask for something new.
Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.
( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )
Wildlife
Feb. 3rd, 2026 12:06 amysabetwordsmithHundreds of new species found in a hidden world beneath the Pacific
As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers documented nearly 800 species, many previously unknown. Test mining reduced animal abundance and diversity significantly, though the overall impact was smaller than expected. The study offers vital clues for how future mining could reshape one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.
Bluntly put, mining would destroy that very delicate ecosystem, and it would not recover. Also the ocean as a whole is struggling to cope with the damage humanity has already caused, and hasn't got the fault tolerance left to cover more.
As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers documented nearly 800 species, many previously unknown. Test mining reduced animal abundance and diversity significantly, though the overall impact was smaller than expected. The study offers vital clues for how future mining could reshape one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.
Bluntly put, mining would destroy that very delicate ecosystem, and it would not recover. Also the ocean as a whole is struggling to cope with the damage humanity has already caused, and hasn't got the fault tolerance left to cover more.
Holiday Poetry Sale
Feb. 2nd, 2026 11:06 pmysabetwordsmithWith today's posts, all sponsored poems from the 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale have been posted. You can now check the sale page for title links to see if you missed any earlier.
Poem: "To the Beat of Plunging Hooves"
Feb. 2nd, 2026 10:43 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the January 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from helgatwb. It also fills the "Plunging Hoofs" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred.
"To the Beat of Plunging Hooves"
-- an indriso
History is often late
To record what's done or said
By the needful, not the great.
Soleated, harnessed, led
Horses drive the wheels of fate
From behind or by the head.
History, like mountains, moves
To the beat of plunging hooves.
helgatwb. It also fills the "Plunging Hoofs" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred."To the Beat of Plunging Hooves"
-- an indriso
History is often late
To record what's done or said
By the needful, not the great.
Soleated, harnessed, led
Horses drive the wheels of fate
From behind or by the head.
History, like mountains, moves
To the beat of plunging hooves.
Poem: "Each Diverse Human Gift"
Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:11 pmysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred. It also fills the "Fresh-baked Bread / Rolls" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest, and the "Adaptive Equipment" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.
( Read more... )
fuzzyred. It also fills the "Fresh-baked Bread / Rolls" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest, and the "Adaptive Equipment" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.( Read more... )
Tags:
Wildlife
Feb. 2nd, 2026 05:06 pmysabetwordsmithSome polar bears are getting fatter despite a warming Arctic
Polar bears tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Arctic. When food is hard to find, their bodies show it fast. When hunting gets easier, they put weight back on. Less sea ice has meant thinner polar bears and fewer of them.
That’s what makes the situation near Svalbard – midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole – so unexpected. Despite ongoing sea ice loss, adult polar bears there are not in worse shape.
Many are actually heavier than they were years ago. Extra fat is not a small detail for a polar bear. It often decides whether the animal gets through the year.
This is super exciting because for years I've been reading about Alaskan polar bears starving. If this other population is getting fatter, then maybe there is hope for the species. :D
( Read more... )
Polar bears tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Arctic. When food is hard to find, their bodies show it fast. When hunting gets easier, they put weight back on. Less sea ice has meant thinner polar bears and fewer of them.
That’s what makes the situation near Svalbard – midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole – so unexpected. Despite ongoing sea ice loss, adult polar bears there are not in worse shape.
Many are actually heavier than they were years ago. Extra fat is not a small detail for a polar bear. It often decides whether the animal gets through the year.
This is super exciting because for years I've been reading about Alaskan polar bears starving. If this other population is getting fatter, then maybe there is hope for the species. :D
( Read more... )