Watch out for alleged video of Trump, Epstein with young girls at party
Feb. 15th, 2026 02:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
snopes_feedEpisode 2740: Life Will Never Be the Same As It Was Again
Feb. 15th, 2026 09:11 amdarths_and_droids_feed
When players get jaded with piles of gold coins or other riches for their exploits, you can turn to symbolic rewards. A knighthood or a noble title. A medal. A bravery award. Having a school named after them.
The cool thing about these is that for some players they bring a great level of satisfaction. And for others they provide something which it's socially unacceptable to complain about, even though it doesn't come with wealth attached.
For bonus points, you can give adventurers a reward that comes with no money, and also a responsibility attached.
- The classic "white elephant": Honorary stewardship of some sacred animal, like a phoenix or a unicorn or a giant tortoise. It needs constant care, special food, and occasionally wanders off, causing a scandal if the heroes lose it.
- An impressive title (e.g. "Baron of the Southern Marais") that comes with a parcel of the worst possible land, like an insect-riddled swamp, or monster-infested mountains. The new Baron is expected to improve the land, encourage settlement, host expensive festivals, and deliver tax revenue to the king.
- The ceremonial Key to the City. Now the mayor expects them to show up to parades, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and businesses pester the heroes for endorsements.
- Honorary Chair of some prestigious elite society, such as a guild of mages or a scientific institution. They have to attend boring meetings, deal with budget arguments, and are constantly bothered by eccentric researchers eager for access to restricted and dangerous vaults.
- Keeper of the Town Clock. The most prestigious title that can be offered, but it means they are expected to maintain the ancient clock that constantly breaks down and personally climb the rickety tower in all weather to reset it when it goes awry.
aurilee writes:
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
...Huh. Chewbacca never struck as caring about the medal that much. Or at least, caring about the loss of material things more than the loss of a long time companion. With how the villains have popped back up in some form or another, I doubt Chewie will want any sort of recognition once he realizes/remembers that, if this is how he's acting now.
Poe is almost completely unsurprising here though. I'd forgotten about the dating/marriage thing, but only that just gives Poe a specific way to try and claim items. Annie seems like the sort to have had a character plan out their will, so I guess we'll see if anything actually comes of that. And of course Finn is acting as someone should at the report of a major leader's death. As far as I can tell at the moment anyway!
Transcript
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wipbigbangThere's no scheduled posting days; whenever you finish, feel free to post the bragging rights on Tumblr or Dreamwidth with this specific form for your fanworks. It allows you bragging rights for finishing your fic/art, and also links to the location of your fic (it should be up somewhere like AO3/FF.net/your personal Tumblr under a tag/any other fic or journal community) in its completion*. We also have an AO3 collection for this round where you can post the AO3 postings of your fic and art to.
These are the bragging rights form for the 2026 WIP Big Bang International Fanworks Day Mini Bang (don't worry about tagging posts on your Dreamwidth post if you post here; we will use a system we've determined):
Project Title:
Fandom:
Link:
Summary:
Warnings:
Characters:
Pairings:
When I Started:**
How I Lost My Shit:**
How I Finished My Shit:**
And here are easy to copy formats with HTML formating:
(You will have to delete the <*br> tags by hand and add breaks, unfortunately, Dreamwidth does not like the textboxes...)
Feel free to celebrate finishing your works, and don't be modest! Shout it to the world! We all come from so many fandoms, but we all came together to finish our shit, and that's something to shed a proud tear over.
*If for some reason, you can't post this yourself, you can always email this information to the mods, and we'll post it for you. You can also post via proxy, just let us know that you will be doing so.
** These are optional but encouraged
And the birds flew right by and the earth made them sing
Feb. 14th, 2026 11:53 pmsovayrushthatspeaks and spatch and I ordered an accidentally four-person quantity of dinner from Chivo and watched Tales of the Tinkerdee (1962), an early fractured fairy tale of a Muppet curio whose relentlessly older-than-vaudeville gags we frequently missed from still laughing at a line about three jokes earlier. "A solid ruby gold-panning inlaid electric-fried antique!" After that I fell asleep on the couch.
Canadian Authors and Illustrators Against Book Bans
Feb. 14th, 2026 10:45 pmradiantfractureIn the wake of US Supreme Court reinforcement of the ban on children's books that discuss LGBTQ+ and racialized experiences, my pals Kari Jones and Robin Stevenson founded Canadian Authors and Illustrators Against Book Bans.
Robin's book about an adorable puppy at a pride parade was the target of a particularly nasty spew of vitriol. Robin is perhaps the kindest, most generous person in the world, and she gets incredible amounts of hate for making affirming books for queer kids and families.
There's a Linktree here, but most of the action is on Instagram.
(ETA:
bibliofile points out that they are also on Bluesky.)Note: CAIABB is not directly affiliated with the American organization Authors Against Book Bans, but they cooperate with similar orgs, like PEN.
§rf§
i know all the wrong turns, the stumbles and falls that brought me here
Feb. 14th, 2026 10:07 pmursamajorhyounpark and I made a dinner worth remembering tonight. By default, when we have pork belly around in the winter, we usually braise it in apple cider, along with a chopped onion, garlic, a little soy sauce, fish sauce, and fivespice. But we didn't have apple cider in the fridge, so I thought about what else we could use for a braising liquid, and while pondering, found a recipe on the McCormick website for a Thai Tea-Spiced Pork Belly with Condensed Milk Sauce, and my eyes lit up, because I knew we had Thai tea packets on hand.
We riffed heavily off that recipe, mostly treating it as taste profile suggestions. I started steeping a liter of Thai tea while H chopped an onion, then I sauteed the onions with garlic and ginger paste (an incredible convenience courtesy the Indian grocery store in our neighborhood), and then added some fivespice powder. H crosshatched the pork belly skin, then cut it into small enough slabs to fit in our Instant Pot. I added a few tablespoons of soy sauce and fish sauce to the stuff in the skillet, then dumped that in the bottom of the Instant Pot; laid the pork belly slabs on top of the rack in the IP, and poured the tea over everything, and then closed it up and let it go on high for 20 minutes.
While that went, H tried to turn our rice into the suggested rice cakes, but we should've used sushi rice instead of brown rice which was what we had ready. Even using the musubi mold didn't get it to stick together enough, alas. Everything still tasted delicious in the end, though, so no fuss.
Meanwhile, I made the condensed milk sauce in the recipe - we had condensed coconut milk on hand, I subbed in peanut butter for the tahini and chile crisp for the sambal - and then turned my attention to the salad. What did we have in the fridge? Half a head of butter lettuce, some shiso leaves, scallions; enough for at least a little greenery on the plate. Chopped the leafy greens and scallion up, and then, inspired, ran an apple through the mandolin. Whisked together a dressing of peanut oil, lime juice, fish sauce, a little galangal and garlic. Topped it off with peanuts.
The IP finished releasing pressure just as we finished the rest of the plating; we each pulled out a small slab of pork belly, drizzled the condensed milk sauce over it, and utterly freaking devoured our dinner. Everything just came together, building on decades of experience and familiarity with each others' taste, and we will absolutely do this again.
And it's not Valentine's for us without chocolate, so I pulled a log of our favorite chocolate toffee cookies out of the freezer, sliced and baked and ate. (Along with the last crumbs of the gargantuan king cake slice
ladyjax bestowed upon me yesterday! Many thanks to her A for the baking thereof :) )Somehow we will both get up in the morning and go for a digestive run and continue appreciating how we grow together, even as things around us are so very different from how we imagined when we began.
What to know about rumor ICE agents aren't being paid
Feb. 15th, 2026 03:00 amsnopes_feedParshat Mishpatim
Feb. 14th, 2026 09:21 pmmagidWe read parshat Mishpatim today, and two pesukim stood out from the rest of the laws being discussed, ones that perhaps the people who still support some of the actions of the current regime yet claim to revere their holy texts should remember.
Shmot/Exodus 22:21
וְגֵ֥ר לֹא־תוֹנֶ֖ה וְלֹ֣א תִלְחָצֶ֑נּוּ כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Shmot/Exodus 23:2
לֹֽא־תִהְיֶ֥ה אַחֲרֵֽי־רַבִּ֖ים לְרָעֹ֑ת וְלֹא־תַעֲנֶ֣ה עַל־רִ֗ב לִנְטֹ֛ת אַחֲרֵ֥י רַבִּ֖ים לְהַטֹּֽת׃
You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong—you shall not give perverse testimony in a dispute so as to pervert it in favor of the mighty—
(and the next pasuk is about not favoring the poor either; I think that is currently not our issue)
( Read more... )
Collection Open!
Feb. 14th, 2026 08:01 pmcandyheartsexPlease enjoy your Candy Hearts, and remember to kudos and comment on your gift(s). Feedback can mean a lot to your creator!
The collection will remain open for treating, and the treatless spreadsheet will continue to be updated throughout this week!
Don't fall for alleged Trump post about plugging volcanoes with cement
Feb. 15th, 2026 12:00 amsnopes_feedA few things
Feb. 15th, 2026 11:14 amchina_shop- My second finished & posted fic of the year, another late fandomtrees gift, is Guardian:
Title: Emergency Contact (6050 words) by china_shop [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, (For one of them), Mild Hurt/Comfort, Zhao Xinci's A+ parenting, Inexperienced Zhao Yunlan, Internalized Homophobia, Feelings about being closeted, Non-Linear Narrative
Summary:
Zhao Yunlan lists Shen Wei as his emergency contact. The fact they've never met is but a minor detail. - Having a lot of fun with the smudgers. Here is my not-quite-convincing sketch of Amina from We Are Lady Parts. I did one of Zhao Yunlan, too, but while it came out okay in terms of shading, it doesn't look enough like him that I can bring myself to upload it, and my Saira and Bisma... well, it's good to practice. Baby steps.
- out_there posted Noah Kahan's The Great Divide a while ago, and it's really stuck with me.
I also keep listening to Amina's cover of The Reason: - In Kdramas, I'm watching One Spring Night for its wonderful cast, but I'm in the market for something more fun (preferably light/swoony romance), if anyone has any recs.
- Milestone: as of yesterday, Andrew is self-propelling (driving again). No more driving him home in the evenings! Of course, this meant I stayed up past midnight making (slightly disappointing; needs scallions and/or garlic chives, neither of which I had) salsa. But anyway, now Andrew has independence (and I have the possibility of earlier nights). Woot!
- We're rewatching LotR after many many years. Halfway through Fellowship. Oh, this soundtrack!
For future reference: I replaced my downstairs smoke alarms yesterday.
It’s International Fanworks Day 2026!
Feb. 14th, 2026 08:57 pmotw_news_feedFor anyone who’s missed our earlier posts, you can find all of our activities for this year’s International Fanworks Day in our “What We’re Doing For #IFD2026” post.
The OTW’s chatrooms and games session is a 30-hour party that lasts from February 14th, 21:00 UTC until February 16th, 03:00 UTC. The game times listed below are all in UTC, but you can click the links to find out how that converts to your own timezone.
The games will be hosted on our dedicated Discord server and moderated by OTW volunteers throughout the day. Every two hours you will be able to participate in a different fandom-themed game! The timetable and game descriptions are posted below; join us on Discord for the games you’d like to play!
NOTE: The games will be played and moderated in English.
Games Schedule:
February 14th
- 21:00 – 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 23:00 – Storytime (What time is that for me?)
February 15th
- 01:00 – List Builder (What time is that for me?)
- 03:00 – Poetry Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
- 05:00 – 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 07:00 – 5 Things (What time is that for me?)
- 09:00 – 2 Truths and a Lie (What time is that for me?)
- 11:00 – Lyrics Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
- 13:00 – List Builder (What time is that for me?)
- 15:00 – Storytime (What time is that for me?)
- 17:00 – 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 19:00 – 2 Truths and a Lie (What time is that for me?)
- 21:00 – OTW Trivia (What time is that for me?)
- 23:00 – Poetry Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
February 16th
- 01:00 – 5 Things (What time is that for me?)
Game Guidelines
5 Things
How to Play: During this game, the host will name a topic and players in the room will call out examples from their favorite fandoms. This will repeat for at least 5 rounds. Be prepared to explain why your answer counts (maybe you’ll recruit someone new to your fandom!)
20 Questions
How to Play: During this game, the host will think of a person, place, or object. Players have exactly 20 yes-or-no questions they can ask the host to determine what the correct answer is.
Storytime
How to Play: The host will paste a starting sentence into the chat. Players take turns coming up with the next sentence–the host calling out whose turn it is–until everyone has gone once, and the story is complete!
List Builder
How to Play: List Builder is a collaborative game in which players work together to come up with a list of fandom characters or items belonging to a particular genre, starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Start at A and work your way through to Z (you can be as flexible as required on the difficult letters!)
Lyrics Round Robin
How to Play: During this game, we’ll collectively write FANDOM lyrics to replace those of a familiar song. The host will choose the song and type out an alternate first two lines. Then those in the room will write the next lines until the song is finished.
Poetry Round Robin
How to Play: During this game, we’ll collectively write FANDOM poetry! The host posts a poem as an example of a specific poetic form (like sonnet, haiku, etc.), as well as a title. The players then write one (or more) original poems of that form together, one line at a time.
OTW Trivia
How to Play: Like most trivia games, the host will ask a question and the first person to answer correctly wins that round. Because we’re online and you’re free to do searches we’re going to add another factor, which is time — you must answer within 2 minutes. But you can call out your answer as soon as you think you know. If you’re the first to have the correct answer, the host will type your name and award you a point. At the end of the game, whoever has gotten the most points will be named the winner!
Two Truths and a Lie
How to Play: The host will paste into the chat 3 statements. Because we’re online and you’re free to do searches we’re going to add another factor, which is time — you must answer within 30 seconds after the third statement!
We also want to hear from you about other celebrations taking place today. Leave us a comment here to tell us about what your fandom communities are doing!
It's International Fanworks Day 2026!
Feb. 14th, 2026 08:58 pmao3_news_feed
For anyone who’s missed our earlier posts, you can find all of our activities for this year’s International Fanworks Day in our "What We're Doing For #IFD2026" post.
The OTW’s chatrooms and games session is a 30-hour party that lasts from February 14th, 21:00 UTC until February 16th, 03:00 UTC. The game times listed below are all in UTC, but you can click the links to find out how that converts to your own timezone.
The games will be hosted on our dedicated Discord server and moderated by OTW volunteers throughout the day. Every two hours you will be able to participate in a different fandom-themed game! The timetable and game descriptions are posted below; join us on Discord for the games you’d like to play!
NOTE: The games will be played and moderated in English.
Games Schedule:
February 14th
- 21:00 - 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 23:00 - Storytime (What time is that for me?)
February 15th
- 01:00 - List Builder (What time is that for me?)
- 03:00 - Poetry Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
- 05:00 - 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 07:00 - 5 Things (What time is that for me?)
- 09:00 - 2 Truths and a Lie (What time is that for me?)
- 11:00 - Lyrics Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
- 13:00 - List Builder (What time is that for me?)
- 15:00 - Storytime (What time is that for me?)
- 17:00 - 20 Questions (What time is that for me?)
- 19:00 - 2 Truths and a Lie (What time is that for me?)
- 21:00 - OTW Trivia (What time is that for me?)
- 23:00 - Poetry Round Robin (What time is that for me?)
February 16th
- 01:00 - 5 Things (What time is that for me?)
Game Guidelines
5 Things
How to Play: During this game, the host will name a topic and players in the room will call out examples from their favorite fandoms. This will repeat for at least 5 rounds. Be prepared to explain why your answer counts (maybe you’ll recruit someone new to your fandom!)
20 Questions
How to Play: During this game, the host will think of a person, place, or object. Players have exactly 20 yes-or-no questions they can ask the host to determine what the correct answer is.
Storytime
How to Play: The host will paste a starting sentence into the chat. Players take turns coming up with the next sentence–the host calling out whose turn it is–until everyone has gone once, and the story is complete!
List Builder
How to Play: List Builder is a collaborative game in which players work together to come up with a list of fandom characters or items belonging to a particular genre, starting with consecutive letters of the alphabet. Start at A and work your way through to Z (you can be as flexible as required on the difficult letters!)
Lyrics Round Robin
How to Play: During this game, we’ll collectively write FANDOM lyrics to replace those of a familiar song. The host will choose the song and type out an alternate first two lines. Then those in the room will write the next lines until the song is finished.
Poetry Round Robin
How to Play: During this game, we’ll collectively write FANDOM poetry! The host posts a poem as an example of a specific poetic form (like sonnet, haiku, etc.), as well as a title. The players then write one (or more) original poems of that form together, one line at a time.
OTW Trivia
How to Play: Like most trivia games, the host will ask a question and the first person to answer correctly wins that round. Because we’re online and you’re free to do searches we’re going to add another factor, which is time — you must answer within 2 minutes. But you can call out your answer as soon as you think you know. If you’re the first to have the correct answer, the host will type your name and award you a point. At the end of the game, whoever has gotten the most points will be named the winner!
Two Truths and a Lie
How to Play: The host will paste into the chat 3 statements. Because we’re online and you’re free to do searches we’re going to add another factor, which is time — you must answer within 30 seconds after the third statement!
We also want to hear from you about other celebrations taking place today. Leave us a comment here to tell us about what your fandom communities are doing!
The Organization for Transformative Works is the non-profit parent organization of multiple projects including Archive of Our Own, Fanlore, Open Doors, OTW Legal Advocacy, and Transformative Works and Cultures. We are a fan-run, donor-supported organization staffed by volunteers. Find out more about us on our website.
Fake images of Trump with underage girls that we've debunked
Feb. 14th, 2026 07:00 pmsnopes_feedCrossword acceptance! DDR! Bad and good moods. We have everything this week.
Feb. 14th, 2026 02:17 pmflexagonVaguely related: Singing Carrots looks like a lot of fun. Gamified vocal training? It really looks like something I envisioned when I first did the singing for Rock Band.
- Vigilance continues: I did indeed draw up a little graph of how my income works these days, or will start working soon, and somehow noticed that my automatic COBRA payments had increased in January without any notice that I can remember (though I must once have noticed that they vary by calendar year). So I had to pass along half that cost to the poor bug. Also Adobe is charging me for something monthly? And like, why? And like, don't.
- Futher vigilance: started weighing myself every day, mostly to see whether I can actually do that without forming any unhealthy behavior around it. What have I learned so far? Well, the day I ate a bunch of salt, I was 1lb heavier the next morning, and back to normal the day after that. Also, pooping is an effective and quick weight-loss technique.
- Reading someone's sewing tutorial, and she wrote "I hope you will pick a simple shape with not too many sharp corners, if you are a beginner." That's so kind, compared to the usual "I'd recommend" that you'd have seen in most American tutorials.
- The Olympics are so brutal. I woke up a few mornings ago to read about Lindsay Vonn's catastrophic fall in Alpine skiing, and today to read about Ilia "The Quad God" Malanin folding under pressure. He's calm in his interviews, and discusses a feeling of losing time during physical motions that I understand all too well.
- Understanding something better: I had a little breakthrough on understanding a circus move, and that circus move is a press. This would take a lot of words to describe properly, but, improperly: pressing into a forearm stand, from a forearm backbend. Feet up on a surface because I'm not THAT bendy. And it suddenly made sense to me that I could hold a shape with my body/legs, shift my shoulders enough to hover the shape, and then roll the unchanging shape as my shoulders came back to a more sustainable position. So I suddenly did three in a row, without cramping up my hamstrings like usual. It's on video and you can clearly see how the second rep is way smoother and looks easier than the first. It was only later that I realized all these same words, especially about rolling and staying rounded, are the ones my coaches use for a forward handstand press. The shape looks pretty different but the idea -- at least the way Spring teaches it -- is the same. Whoa.
- Finished watching Season 1 of The Leftovers (TV show), as well as finishing the book, which I'd started reading in order to better understand the show. Then we looked at the summaries/blurbs for the next two seasons, and... nah. It seems to go in weird directions I'm not going to follow. I like the idea of picking up a story a few years after some world-shaking event, but When We Were Real does it better and without falling into misery porn.
And let me not forget! On Wednesday I got an acceptance letter from a crossword I submitted to NYT Games! Gonna be published, baby. And yes, I am very happy about that. :D
Melt: Original: Baking: Melting Moments
Feb. 14th, 2026 06:37 pmsmallhobbit posting in fan_flashworksFandom: Original
Rating: G
Length: 7 photos
Summary: I baked 24 melting moments