The Great Migration Continues - Now LJ Idol, My Writing Group, Is Moving to Dreamwidth

Over the past few weeks, for very understandable reasons, there has been a massive migration of people from Live Journal to Dreamwidth. I didn't migrate for a simple reason - I've been on both platforms for a very long time. But there are many on-line friends who are only on one or the other, and I respect whatever decision they make. This morning I got the message that my writer's group is moving from LJ to DW beginning with the next prompt. That's OK, I did a shorter writing stint with them on DW last year and things went fine. But I'm sure it will be difficult for some (and easier for others). 

Although I'm not "moving" per se, I will make DW the  
more primary posting site for me and use LJ as 
my secondary one. I won't renew my LJ membership 
when it comes due, and I already expanded my DW 
membership to be a paid one earlier this year. 

I have my LJ site backed up, and I post on both every day. I suspect I will not renew my paid membership when it comes up for renewal, and I've already established a paid membership with DW. My major problem is that LJ is much smoother to operate under, but needs must. With the various war crimes the Russian soldiers are committing in Ukraine, and the fact that Russia is at war with Ukraine at all, I totally concur with the decision of the moderator to move our writing group completely over to Dreamwidth. 

We might need to change our logo from LJ Idol 
to DW Idol. But the people will be the same (for the 
most part) and the challenges will continue. I'm 
really enjoying being a part of the group - writing 
challenges are always fun for me and stretch my 
mind. The platform won't make an appreciable 
difference to me one way or the other. 

It's fortunate that we have two very similar websites available for this type of back and forth. I'm also fortunate that most of my friends are on both platforms because I would hate to lose track of any of them. I'll keep posting to both, my paid membership on LJ doesn't expire until sometime in 2023 and even then, when I don't renew, the only thing I'll lose are my various user pics. I should start getting those set up on DW, but it's not urgent. I've never used either site as a platform for my photos - those have always been on my own computer and cut/pasted into my daily blog. So there's very little that will ruffle my feathers. 

I'm not getting my feathers all ruffled with the move over 
to Dreamwidth. It might be harder for others of my 
friends - old and new. I'm more disappointed that the 
inhumanity of war has made this move a necessity 
for so many, including my writers' group. 

But the fact that this has become necessary, even encouraged, as a reaction against the war and the atrocious war crimes committed by Russia just burns me. The mounting long list of atrocities committed by Russia in their war against Ukraine steals the warmth from my heart. Seeing the sights and hearing about the ever-increasing casualties, causes me physical pain. I don't listen to the non-stop war news because I physically can't take it. I get the high (or low) points several times a day, but I'm not like DH. I can't tolerate having the TV on all day, listening non-stop to this long list of human suffering and atrocity. 

I'm going to reduce my footprints on 
LiveJournal and increase them on 
Dreamwidth. I feel I have no choice 
left but this. 

So to make a long story shorter, I'm going to minimize my footprint on Live Journal and expand it on Dreamwidth. I suspect that most, if not all, of my friends on LJ will end up moving over to DW, and I'm happy to welcome each one of you. I'm "erulissedances" on Dreamwidth. If you move over to that platform, please make sure to send me a "friend" request. I don't want to lose any friends over this miserable and horrific war. 

I've had an account on Dreamwidth for several years, 
so moving from LiveJournal over to DW isn't really 
the issue for me. I have some friends who are only 
on one or the other, though, and I don't want to lose 
track of any of them. 

So, have an excellent weekend. I'll be trying to relax a bit and work on the photographs I took yesterday. I succeeded in getting all of the 6mm Swarovski cubes photographed, but now I need to work with those photos on the laptop, and get things in a format and size which will work on Etsy. Have an excellent weekend, continue to pray and work for peace, and I'll be back (on both platforms) on Monday. Peace! 

Three Things to Enhance Your Day - Videos of the Extraordinary

Today I'm sharing movement, sound and a building - things that I thought might be of interest to all of you. I'm going to start with something relatively simple.- rhythm and tone that requires some human intervention, but that's still a lot of fun to see and experience for the inventor as well as those listening. 

Here, Pete O'Connell demonstrates his "Rhysonic Wheel" at an
intimate concert. If you follow THIS LINK, you can see the
concert on You-Tube. 

Here I'm featuring Pete O'Connell and his "Rhysonic Wheel". A New Zealand artist, he's been inventing wheels that play stringed and rhythmic instruments for years now. This latest device spins several wheels at once, impacting a drum, dhembe and other percussive and/or stringed instruments he places in the path of the spinning discs. 

NEXT ...

I've been a follower of Wintergatan on and off for years now. This group of musicians/inventors have had an ongoing Marble Machine project. Here's a video documenting the successful completion of the "Marble Conveyor Belt". It's demonstrated by Martin Molin, a member of the band and the inventor of the Marble Machine. If you enjoy rhythm and beat, you'll love this video. 

Here, Martin Molin gives a lively demonstration of the
Epic Marble Machine X. Just click THIS LINK for the
full video. It's wonderfully fun. 

NEXT

The third thing I have to share with all of you today is a bit different - a dragon ... a very LARGE dragon. This 17-story dragon wraps around a Buddhist temple in Thailand. The temple is called "Wat Samphran". The building is 80 meters tall to honor the number of years that Buddha lived. You can climb the building and touch the dragon's beard or talons from the rooftop. Want the full experience? I'll pin a 360 degree perspective in a video link below. 

Isn't he simply magnificent? I'll embed a LINK HERE so that you
can experience the full 360-degree experience of this amazing
dragon. If I ever get to Thailand, I'm visiting this guy, for sure!

So, there you have it - three videos to capture your imagination today. At least, they certainly captured mine. I'm off to the gym for another day on the machines. Have to lose this birthday weight (only four pounds were gained and they were well worth it, but I still have to get it back off - LOL). I hope you enjoy what I presented to you today, and have a spectacular Tuesday. I'll return tomorrow! 

Wrapping Up The Week - Spoilers and Spatial Issues

Yesterday's fashion posting certainly hit the mark for many of you - comments galore, most of which I totally agree with. I'm not really sure what the judges are looking for this year, or maybe it's because I am older so I go for sophisticated and timeless over edgy and ick. But yes - I also loved Sonia's gown and I really thought the winning design totally sucked! Oh well, I might not be fashionable, but at least I know what I like - LOL. 

I'm looking forward to seeing "Avengers Endgame" in a few
weeks. I'm not one of those who has to see an epic film when
it first comes out. I can take some time. This film will be in the
theatre for a while. 

"Avengers - Endgame" has now been released. It's LONG - slightly over three hours in length. DH and I have decided it will be my birthday movie this year, so we'll head out in a couple of weeks to take a look. I'm sure if that was the plan for some of you, you'd be hiding in a corner to avoid spoilers, but spoilers have never bothered me. In fact, I often will read ahead in books, then return to my saved bookmark and continue reading. Knowing the ending doesn't bother me, I want to know how the author or screenplay writer got from point A to point B. 

Spoilers aren't necessarily bad. In numerous college
studies, books with spoilers rated higher than the
books without spoilers across genres. Here, the
spoiler books (solid black line) consistently rated
higher than the unspoiled tales in three different
literary categories. 

DH and I will take a bit of time tomorrow and go over to the shop. I need some help clearing out my area - lots of boxes and merchandise that I really don't quite know what to do with. I'm in the "throw it away" mode for a lot of it, but certainly not all of it. Since DH wants to liberate the 4-drawer filing cabinet at the far end of my space - almost impossible to get to and a total BEAR to get out of there - I'm counting on some major assistance from him, else it just won't happen. 

We have a lot of file cabinets - two drawer
and four drawer. He wants another four-drawer,
and the one he wants has the best drawers, so
we'll manage to get it out of its corner. It
won't be easy, but we'll make it happen. 

He called me down to the craft room last night after dinner and explained how he will be altering the initial plans for my workstation. The revisions will allow plenty of room for my books and magazines, and still allow ample open work-space for my projects with good lighting. I like the changes he's making in the initial plans and think they'll work out very well. We have to maximize space as much as possible. Merging two completely separate work-spaces into a single entity is like trying to fold geometry - very tricky. There are certainly times I wish we lived in a Tardis - larger inside than without. 

I need studio space that would operate like a Tardis. Just a simple
room, that would expand into a large, comprehensive work-space.
Oh well, a girl can dream ... 

On that note, have a spectacular weekend. I'll return on Monday, hopefully with some spatial issues resolved. 

Only Three Weeks for Chickie's Move - ACK!

OMG, is it really only ten days until Christmas? I'd better get Sharon's gift wrapped, pushed into a box, and shipped away to her. It's not like I haven't had it for a few months, but I've had it put aside  and you know the old saying? "Out of sight, out of mind!" Bad me! I can't let this slide past, especially when I've had it purchased, and I'm not scrabbling to get something perfect at the last minute. 

I'd better get Sharon's gift wrapped and into the mail for her. It won't
be late, but Christmas is quickly approaching! 

DH is always a problem, and I suppose I am a bit of one also. My loves are reading and listening to music, and I do both of those things electronically whenever possible - Sirius and Spotify for my music, and B&N Nook Books for my reading (kindle books under duress, but as rarely as possible, and epub books from selected authors and publishing houses are slowly entering my sphere). I probably should set up a database of ebooks I own by title and author (and maybe year), but with over 1500 of them, that's a commitment to a LOT of time and effort. I'll just have to hope that Barnes & Noble stays in business - questionable for any store in this day and age. 

All My Books software program claims to easily organize both
ebooks (in most formats) and audio books. That would be a
totally awesome thing since I have well over 1000 of each format
and would love to know what I actually own. I sent a few
questions over to them and will wait for a
response. It might be a winner for me. 

I was a good boss, yesterday, and got Chickie's verification of employment and salary form filled out and sent back to her bank financing person. It's hard to believe that things are moving so quickly, but Chickie will take possession of her new duplex in three weeks! So fast! She's been packing for months, but with such a short time pending, she'll have to shift into high gear now, and I suspect she'll be requesting several days off in January to move and get things set up in her new place. Her demon-kitties will go crazy with the new digs. 

Things have been moving so quickly for Chickie and her
Mom. Two weeks ago they hadn't even heard of this
duplex, now they're almost home owners with
three weeks until closing. Ack!!!

It's definitely going to be a period of adjustment for her and for us. She won't be living a block away from the shop any more, she'll be driving to work every morning instead. That's going to change a lot of things - not only the amount she'll be spending on gas and car upkeep. It's going to change her workout schedule at her local YMCA, the grocery stores she shops at, and lots of other aspect of her daily life. I hope everything works out really well for her, but I'm quite sure she's under some major stress right now. 

It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while, and we'll
just have to hang on tightly. 

So, I'm just going to hang on for the ride. It's going to be a bumpy 6-8 months for all of us. Somehow we'll move through it and look back on late 2018 and early 2019 as our little bits of hell, but we'll hang on and be the better for it. Have an excellent Saturday and a great weekend. Tomorrow is my final Sunday open, and I'll be really happy to get my Sundays back again. Be good, have fun, give lots of hugs, and I'll be back on Monday.