mikro | Reading

Scientists reveal a 1.5-million-year-old human face

A 1.5-million-year-old face is forcing scientists to rethink the origins and diversity of early humans.

Scientists have digitally reconstructed the face of a 1.5-million-year-old Homo erectus fossil from Ethiopia, uncovering an unexpectedly primitive appearance. While its braincase fits with classic Homo erectus, the face and teeth resemble much older human ancestors. This discovery challenges long-held ideas about where and how Homo erectus evolved. It also hints at a complex web of migrations and possible mixing between early human species.

The actual image shows a reconstruction of the skull, rather than a paleoforensic art rendering of the face when alive. But it's still cool.

Feeling: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Feeling: busy

ysabetwordsmith

This year I've been running an experiment to see which type of pen lasts the longest for labeling plants outdoors. I have compiled links to the previous posts and added pictures from each month where I hadn't already posted them. Results: Sharpie Oil Pen lasted longest, Craft Smart Oil Pen was still legible at the end of the year, and Sharpie Permanent Marker faded very fast. If you're labeling plants outdoors, buy an oil paint pen, preferably Sharpie.

These are the other posts regarding the labels.
1/3/25 Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels
2/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
3/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
4/4/25 Photos: South Lot
5/6/25 Photos: South Lot
6/2/25 Photos: House Yard
11/3/25 Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit (labels at bottom)
Photos: House Yard 12-16-25

( Let's do science to it... )

Feeling: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Tonight I'm making the Candy Cane Cookies with cherry flavored candy canes. Watch for your favorite flavors this time of year and grab them while you can. This recipe should work with any candy cane flavor you like -- they are basically just a big piece of flavored sugar that you can turn back into sugar grains by bashing them in a bag.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- These turned out okay, but nowhere near as good at the original peppermint or the cinnamon. They looked pretty though, as the cherry candy canes had both red and green stripes. So it might be worth a try if you're a fan of "birthday cake" with sprinkles baking.

Feeling: accomplished

ysabetwordsmith

Today I took pictures of the labels I'm testing, plus a few of the snowy yard as well.

These are the other posts regarding the labels. I need to make a post that shows them all in sequence; not everything has been posted yet.
1/3/25 Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels
2/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
3/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
4/4/25 Photos: South Lot
5/6/25 Photos: South Lot
6/2/25 Photos: House Yard
11/3/25 Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit (labels at bottom)

( Walk with me ... )

Feeling: accomplished

loganberrybunny

Public

319/365: Black-headed gull
Click for a larger, sharper image
The weather today was what I'd call "vaguely acceptable" for the time of year. I got a reasonable amount of walking in, just sneaking over 10,000 steps by the end of the day. Not particularly amazing for me, but acceptable. Here's a rather bored-looking black-headed gull sitting on the parapet of Bewdley Bridge. I suppose part of the problem for these birds is that in December not many people are sitting outside with chips to drop on the ground! These birds don't actually have a fully black head for most of the year; it's usually roughly early March to late July. And yes, if you're a Watership Down fan (as you should be!) Kehaar is one of this species.

Feeling: okay

ysabetwordsmith

Parents find Health Star Ratings confusing and unhelpful. We need a better food labelling system (Australia)

Food labels are intended to support healthy choices. But not all labelling schemes are equal.

Australia currently uses a voluntary Health Star Rating system. Food manufacturers can choose to add a star label to their packaging to indicate how it compares to other similar products. Or they can choose not to show a star rating on a product at all.

How satisfied are you with the food labeling option(s) available where you live? If you also buy imported foods, what do you think about labels from other countries?

What kind of traits do you pay attention to in food shopping? Are they easy to find on labels, harder to find, not listed, or actually forbidden to list?

( Read more... )

Feeling: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and considerably less cold -- ice is melting in places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of cardinals, and two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I took a few pictures around the yard, including the plant labels I'm tracking.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I potted 4 Granny Smith apple seeds that already split open, and stored 3 more in a baggie of damp sand in the fridge.

One of the Pink apple sprouts that I planted earlier has surfaced and opened tiny leaves. \o/ (Note that this will not make a Pink apple, since it is a seedling not a clone, but if it lives then it should produce decent dessert apples of some sort.)

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/16/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Feeling: busy

gs_silva

Cathy studies English and Ella is tired of driving

Two separate panels in today's daily comic. First, Cathy and Maurice sit at their kitchen table with a notebook.

Maurice tells Cathy, "Ton cahier est presque complet! C'est un bon guide pour étudier. Your notebook will be a good study guide."

Cathy begins to write, "You...r..."

"Non, vraiment," Maurice says. "I want to borrow it to study with."

"Il est utile?" she asks. It's useful?

(Author's note: Whether within the dialogue or in my footnotes, translations are not guaranteed to be direct or literal, and several characters are language learners and make common errors. I'm also a language learner and make errors on top of that.)

In the second panel, Jon adjusts himself in his wheelchair and looks at Ella while Ella stirs something in a pot. One of his endearing personality traits is that he's the kind of person who can't sit still to save his life, even now that he's a paraplegic.

"I need to get back to the gym. Being sedentary is bad for me," he says.

Ella replies, "Unless Giant synchronizes our shifts better, I don't know how that's gonna happen. Unless you want to stay there for 8 hours! Or if Cathy can get her license, maybe."

"Did we ever ask her if she has a license?" Jon says.

"I've never thought of it until just now! Maybe she does!" Ella muses.

loganberrybunny

Public

Tarzan (1999)

It's been a long time since I made a film review post, so let's rectify that now! The most recent movie I watched at home was this one, which I've had on DVD for ages but had either never watched or hadn't seen for donkey's years. So, any good? Yeah, not bad at all. I had fun, anyway. It's not a knock-down classic, and the fact Phil Collins won an Oscar for one of Tarzan's forgettable songs suggests it wasn't a vintage year for film music. But where it really stands out is in the action sequences, which are fantastic: breathlessly dynamic and exciting, with dizzying camera angles by the dozen. Tony Goldwyn as Tarzan himself is okay, though Minnie Driver's Jane is a bit uninteresting. BRIAN BLESSED is in this (as Clayton) which is rarely a bad thing, as is Nigel Hawthorne in one of his very last roles as Jane's dad. This isn't one of the absolute great Disney animated features – The Lion King from five years earlier beats it on most counts, including animal support cast quality – but it's well worth a look on a Sunday afternoon. Highish three. ★★★

Feeling: cheerful

ysabetwordsmith

fuzzyred is hosting a pool for the Holiday Poetry Sale. There are no individual poem targets yet, just a general discussion of some favorite areas. If you're shopping for poetry, dive in!

Feeling: busy

fuzzyred

It's that time of year again!

ysabetwordsmith is having her holiday poetry sale where all unsold 2025 poems are half-price. I will be running a pool for the sale and have a rather generous budget, so anyone who joins the pool will get the quarter-price rate on any poems purchased.

Since my budget is so large, writing out a target list would be really long. Instead, I will name my main goals below and, as always, anyone who joins the pool can name a target of their own. This is a perfect time to jump in if you really want to see a large poem especially, since it will be much easier to cover now than with my regular budget. If you need my paypal details, comment below and I will send them to you. I will close the pool late Thursday/early Friday, so that I can send the funds along to Ysabetwordsmith before the sale ends on Friday. Let's buy some poems!

Main targets:
I'd like to purchase poems from series that don't get much attention or half-price sales often, especially Arts and Crafts America and One God's Story of a Midlife Crisis.
Shiv is a favourite thread, so I'd like to purchase at least one of those epics. My thoughts are the college poem first, since that storyline has had a lot of attention lately, but the art poem is also catching my eye.
The Big One is another thread I'd like to buy poems from, maybe starting with the poem about Bluescreen and Blaze, since the pre-requisite to that was recently purchased.
If there is any money left over, Rutledge is another thread I enjoy reading, along with a few threads that have only one poem, such as Iron Horses.

Again, if there is any poem you really want to see, let me know and I'm more than happy to prioritize that one. Happy holidays everybody!

Feeling: excited

ysabetwordsmith

The Holiday Poetry Sale is now open on LiveJournal. Sponsors, start your engines! It runs Monday, December 15-Friday, December 19. All listed poems are half-price. If you spend $100 or more, you get the quarter-price rate. Watch to see if someone opens a pool; there is usually one for this event.

Feeling: busy

ysabetwordsmith

Coffee-driven deforestation is making it harder to grow coffee, watchdog group says

Scientists have shown how deforestation leads to less rainfall in tropical rainforests. That's because the trees there soak up and release moisture, which rises to create clouds and more rain. Cutting down trees disrupts the cycle, reducing rainfall and leading to drought.

Drought, of course, makes it harder to grow coffee.

"When you kill the forest, you're actually also killing the rains, which is exactly what your crop needs to thrive in the long run," Higonnet says. "Even for people who don't much care about climate change and mass extinction, if they drink coffee and care about having coffee in the long run, this should be very scary for them."

( Read more... )

Feeling: busy

loganberrybunny

Public

318/365: Arley Ferry remains, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
This is all that remains of the ferry that once took passengers across the River Severn a few miles upstream at the village of Arley. At its peak the ferry was carrying a couple of thousand people each weekend, but it became heavily loss-making and was replaced with an (ugly) footbridge in 1972. The remains were taken to Bewdley in the 1980s and were used as a landing stage for small hire motor boats, but they were wrecked in a flood in 1996. Since 2000, the few remaining pieces of the ferry have been on display in this front garden in Bewdley, not far from the river.

Feeling: productive

sistawendy

I just measured my dining area table. It comes as both a disappointment and a relief that I don't have enough space, not even close, for that fabulous dining set by John Kirschbaum. Oh, and I probably can't afford anything by Elizabeth Gahan and still pay surgery-related expenses.

Speaking of expeneses, I do believe I've found a group that I want to camp with at Burning Man, no ambivalence necessary. Yes, I've dug out my packing list of doom.

Feeling: excited
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Listening to: Brit Hansen on KEXP's Expansions from Sunday night

ysabetwordsmith

Hidden dimensions could explain where mass comes from

A new theory proposes that the universe’s fundamental forces and particle properties may arise from the geometry of hidden extra dimensions. These dimensions could twist and evolve over time, forming stable structures that generate mass and symmetry breaking on their own. The approach may even explain cosmic expansion and predict a new particle. It hints at a universe built entirely from geometry.

Feeling: busy

cupcake_goth

I used to have this skirt by Kambriel. I have since sold it on to

sistawendy , and it looks fabulous on her. But I miss the idea of the skirt.

I'm pondering buying yardage of both those fabrics to make myself an ankle-length version. I'd be making it myself, because if I asked the Madwoman in the Attic to make something with both those patterns together, her head would explode.

ysabetwordsmith

Today is sunny and cold, but less frigid than yesterday. It got down to 8 below last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. I put out a new block of peanut suet.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I've seen a female cardinal.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a male cardinal.

EDIT 12/15/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen one female and two male cardinals, plus two mourning doves.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Feeling: busy

cupcake_goth

Originally, I was supposed to be getting my COVID vax on Friday and thus spend the weekend recovering. (COVID vaccinations hit me hard.) But then other things meant moving things around, and now I'm planning on getting my vaccination on 12/27, which gives me more days to recover.

So we could go do the other things, right? AHAHAHAHAHA Friday night my back decided to ~do the thing~, the thing that sent me to the ER at the end of 2019. This round wasn't quite as bad, but I did need the Stroppy One to help me stand up from any seated position and to escort me up and down stairs in case my left leg randomly decided not to work for a few seconds.

I lost the whole weekend to heavy drugs and being covered in lidocaine patches. Luckily I have a Dr. appointment on Thursday; I will go over all of this with her, say, "I've done all the things that can be done before medical procedures are discussed", and then ask what tests I need to get before I can get steroid shots. (Steroid shots are the next step, with the ultimate step being surgery.) The Stroppy One will be in the appointment with me, because there's a good chance I'll forget to mention something, so having a backup brain is a good idea.

Stupid bodies.

Profile

Catherine

Fille-De-Pierrot

December 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Journal

Reading

Navigation

Early Humans

Hard Things

Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels

Today's Cooking

Photos: House Yard

If you were the only gull in the world...

Food

Birdfeeding

Alien Romance, the daily comic strip

Film post: Tarzan (1999)

Pool Open!

Holiday Poetry Sale

Holiday Poetry Sale

Conservation

Ferry 'cross the... Severn

Whew! And yay!

Science

Random fashion pondering

Birdfeeding

Dear Body, that wasn't the plan

Profile

December 2025

Tags

Summary