stellar-cannibalism

Ramscoops

Power distribution

Fuel

Cooling systems

Warp coils

YARN ACQUIRED!!! as soon as i saw Mothy and the Squid's absolutely GORGEOUS "Inner Fire" yarn, i knew that was 100% what i needed for the Balrog-themed "You Shawl Not Pass," and after a Slight Snafu about Shades of Black, my Much More Appropriately Saturated OPAL arrived today!! i am LOCKED and LOADED and PREPARED FOR SHAWLDOM!!

update!: have made it to the end of the section labeled "CHEVRONS" and now i am onto the section labeled "CONTINUE CHEVRONS" (in which she hits you with a "Read carefully through this section before beginning as multiple steps occur at the same time," which has been making me low-key nervous since the first time i read through the pattern, because it looked Convoluted and Tricky).

fortunately! her instructions for the multiple simultaneous steps are just written unhingedly! it's basically "keep working in the established pattern BUT make it bigger every 8 rows to account for the increases in said 8th row" lmao. i wrote myself out a handy cheat sheet so i have something to check off (because i've been putting check marks upon row completion but. ah. seventy-eight (78) more rows is. too many check marks, for the current printed pattern to withstand).

i could switch to a bigger cable to see her better but i don't wanna

anyway! just finished the fifth "CONTINUE CHEVRONS" repeat (what timing!!), so there's only four and a half left before the contrast color switch. very interested to see how much of the second ball of black yarn i need for this--i'm already going through a lot per row, but there's also only four and a half repeats of the pattern with the contrast color, and that allegedly will use one ball or less also. so! hoping to have some extra black at the end, but We Shall See.

HERE'S THE SCRUNGLYASS HERSELF, FRESH OFF THE NEEDLES, AND HER POT OF STEW (TRAGICALLY POTATOLESS):

*this point on your dash without witnessing THE COMPLETED SHAWL, is what he means by "you shawl shall not pass," here

hello again world!! guess what has been BLOCKED and PHOTOGRAPHED and WRAPPED!! BEHOLD!!

she's 65 inches at her widest and 17 inches from neckline to central point! she is VERY wrappable and wingspanny and cozy!! i'm so pleased with how she turned out! she took two skeins (a skein and a half really) of OPAL and most of the INNER FIRE, and the pattern can be found on ravelry here.

But everyone has their own system, and so long as it works for you, it's a good one.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) announced last week that they're changing their billing policy next year so limited license mental health therapists in the state (21% of the mental health work force in Michigan) won't be able to bill them for therapy sessions if they work in a private practice or school setting.

Since BCBSM holds almost 70% of Michigan's commercial market, limited license therapists almost certainly will be forced out of private practice - interrupting care for (possibly hundreds? of) thousands of clients and severely restricting training opportunities for practitioners trying to get fully licensed.

Here are a few news articles about this:

Michigan Blue Cross to limit mental health benefit. Will thousands lose care?

‘Devastating’: Michigan mental health care workers concerned BCBSM billing change could cut access to counselors

Mental health providers warn BCBSM billing changes could disrupt care for hundreds

Ways Michiganders can help:

- Post about this on other social media platforms.

- Call your state legislator and say you're against this policy.

- If you have BCBSM insurance, call the number on the back of your insurance card and complain.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

Happy pride month ❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

It also has a lot of different kinds of stitches you can do that make different densities of fabric.

I was surprised that I’d never heard of it though. It’s older than knitting and crocheting and even though it’s been done all over the world it’s super relevant to Nordic culture and my grandmother and I are both into keeping in touch with our roots a bit so I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it.

It’s also a lot easier to freehand and adjust as you go than crochet or knitting and you mostly go by inches instead of rows and number of stitches so a large number of accessories like stitch markers or whatever isn’t really necessary.

Why should we leave you? Because we don't like you.