rafiwinters | Network

As usual, not much going on here.

I had today off work, and spent most of the day cleaning and organizing my room. Then Blair trimmed and dyed my hair (again). I swear, my hair is a different color every couple of weeks at this point. The pretty blue-green-purple mermaid color scheme faded out, so we redid the indigo/purple and painted some dark blue over parts of it. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow I work, and then I've got to come home and do more cleaning. Thursday we leave to go on a little family vacation with Blair's family. We'll be staying in a huge cabin kind of in the middle of nowhere, but from the pictures I saw on the booking site, it looks quite pretty.

Anyway, there's no one to watch our dog, so Blair enlisted the help of some friends. One of them will be handling Thursday and another will be handling Friday through Sunday. Both of them will be staying over in our apartment, which I am not pleased about because I don't trust either of them not to go snooping through our things or to make sure the front door is always locked, but it's really the only option we've got as there's no one else, nowhere to board dogs near here that we can trust with our dog's health issues, and the AirBnB forbids pets (and has cameras on the property, I'm sure).

I'll end up prepping all of Velma's food and medicines and writing out a detailed list of what our dogsitters should and should not do that is sure to make me look like an untrusting hardass, but oh well.

Current Mood: tired

everygoddamnday_feed

Posted by Neil Steinberg

https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2026/09/wait-you-mean-we-dont-gotta-pay-taxes.html

Unlike you, I've earned millions of dollars through writing. True, the bulk of that was in modest, regular increments over a 45-year period, mostly salary from this newspaper, where writing is only one of several duties — there is navigating the web of colleagues and superiors, the strategic cordiality, the gossip, the bowing, the scraping, the "yes sir, that is a brilliant idea," side as well.
Occasionally — very occasionally, of late — freelance checks show up: article payments, book royalties or advances, and I will announce the sum in my best imitation of a stentorian Bill Kurtis proclamation: "Bumpty-bump thousand dollars!" And my wife, God bless her, dutiful sworn officer of the court that she is, will observe, as if on cue: "Of course, you have to pay taxes on that."
Silly me, I take her at her word. When April 15 comes around, we do indeed pay whatever portion — and it can be between a quarter and a third — that our accountant says is due the federal government.
So it was with gratitude that I recently read in the Sun-Times Sunday how Mayor Brandon Johnson's new communications director, Rachel Cohen, deliberately withheld federal income taxes on her freelance work as a protest against ICE. Can we all do that? Because I too have freelance, and I too have serious disagreements with a considerable part of the federal government — the entire executive branch leaps to mind.
If we can simply withhold our taxes, then not only will I have registered a protest, but saved myself some significant scratch as well, manna I will need on the long slog through retirement, set to begin ... well ... maybe sooner than I care to if I keep turning in stuff like this.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for social action. Protests such as last year's at Broadview were not just heroic, but essential. Like colonial minutemen pouring out of their farms and shops to face the British, patriotic Americans poured into the streets to show that we do not want federal thugs grabbing our neighbors out of their cars for the crime of having immigrated to this country, plunging them into some nightmare gulag system, the true horror of which is not yet fully known. We haven't yet saved the United States from despotism, but if it is indeed saved, they deserve ample credit.
But I'm also a chronic law abider. I can't rip the tag off a new mattress. My fingers tingle seeing how glibly some break the law and get away with it.
Yes, there is a tradition of tax evasion related to the mayor's office. Mayor Harold Washington, you might recall, did not file his federal taxes for four years in the 1960s — not even as a protest, but due to being disorganized, he later said. The IRS went after him, and though it was determined that he had actually paid the baseline amounts, and only owed $508, that was enough for him to plead no contest and be sentenced to 40 days in the Cook County Jail in 1972, serving 36.
He "forgot," Washington told the Sun-Times editorial board during his 1983 run, adding "maybe a psychiatrist could explain it." He still won.
"I'm not proud of this," Washington added, as opposed to Cohen, who seems very proud.

To continue reading, click here.

https://www.everygoddamnday.com/2026/09/wait-you-mean-we-dont-gotta-pay-taxes.html

kevinandkell_feed

http://www.kevinandkell.com/2026/kk0916.html

Comic for Wednesday September 16th, 2026 - "It's not easy being green" [ view ]

On this day in 1996, the kids were watching TV when they heard Kell come home from work much to her delight. A wind suddenly started to blow... [ view ]

Today's Daily Sponsor - Today's comic strip is sponsored by: Connie Riley. [ support ]

http://www.kevinandkell.com/2026/kk0916.html

elf

Three things I'm trying out:

Zen browser: FOSS, not Chromium, very different from anything else I've seen.
Tabliss - a "front page" plugin for Firefox
Kagi - Search engine not driven by ads.

( What I like about them )

phys_breaking_feed

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chimpanzees-youngsters-tools-tricky-techniques.html

Two-thirds of a century after Jane Goodall observed "David Greybeard" break off a twig to fashion a fishing rod for termites, researchers following in her footsteps have found that adult chimpanzees in Senegal literally hand youngsters the tools for learning.

https://phys.org/news/2026-09-chimpanzees-youngsters-tools-tricky-techniques.html

olivermoss

Please tell me I have better things to do than rubberneck Ed Sheeran's world tour falling apart.

Fucking Philip DeFranco crashed out at him.

And honestly expecting Macklemore to not do Macklemore things is crazy. He always Mackles more, not less.

If the above is gibberish to you: Macklemore was Sheeran's opening act, but being Macklemore he did a Free Palstine thing as part of his opener. A billionaire who owns a bunch of venues said the Macklemore needed to be dropped or wouldn't allow the tour to perform there. Ed Sheeran was all 'sorry, have to drop you, because I'm not taking sides in politics rn'

And Macklemore was all 'I am rich, I am not a victim here, don't paint me as one. If this drama is highlighting Palestine, that is a win'

Now all the other acts in the tour and his backing band have dipped in support of Macklemore.

I always forget that Ed Sheeran is actually like a big deal and not some niche artist I've heard of because I am a bit of an anglophile.

creepy_shetan posting in

comment_fic

Hi and welcome. =) We are without a guest host this week as well, so I've brought you this pinch hit to enjoy. (Sorry it's late!)

Today's theme is personality traits. Explore a character's thoughts and behaviors, their words and actions, and perhaps how their personality gels with--or clashes with--those of others.

Feel free to add specifics to your prompts, like whether you'd prefer a gen fill over something shippy, or if you have a squick or trigger you hope to avoid. Original fiction, fanfiction, and fanfic crossovers are always welcome. ~_^

Just a few rules:
No more than five prompts in a row.
No more than three prompts in the same fandom.
Use the character's full names and the fandom's full name
No spoilers in prompts for a month after airing, or use the spoiler cut option found here. Unfortunately, DW doesn’t have a cut tag, so use your best judgment when it comes to spoilers.
If your fill contains spoilers, warn and leave plenty of space, or use the above-mentioned spoiler cut.

Prompts should be formatted as follows: [Use the character's full names and fandom's full name]
Fandom, Character +/ Character, Prompt

Some examples to get things started...
+ The Librarian(s) (TV movies and series), Flynn Carsen or Vikram Chamberlain (+ any), having a flair for the dramatic
+ any TV fandom, any (+/ any), passionate about their hobbies or work
+ author's choice, any (+/ any), resourceful

We are on AO3! If you fill a prompt and post it to AO3, please add it to the Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2026 collection. See further notes on this option here.

Not feeling any of today’s prompts? You can use LJ’s advanced search options to limit keyword results to only comments in this community. Fret not, DW members; we are working on a way to search through old entries for prompts for you! As of right now, the best way to search for a lonely prompt on DW is to search the community’s archive, which can be found [[HERE]].

While the use of LJ's advanced search and DW’s archive are options, bookmarking the links of prompts you like might work better for searching in the future.

As a friendly reminder about our schedule, Lonely Prompts and sharing completed fills are encouraged on Sundays, while new themes and prompts are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Saturdays are a Free for All day. We'll share our posts on DW and LJ for everyone's convenience. Keep an eye out for notifications!

If you have a Dreamwidth account and would feel more comfortable participating there, please feel free to do so… and spread the word! comment_fic

tag=personalitytraits

ashelterofpages posting in

no_true_pair

Title: We Grant Ourselves This Kindness
Words: 855
Fandom: Original Work (Library Birds-verse)
Pairing/Characters: Tybalt and Orion
Content Notes: None, this is just a sweet moment between them.
Prompt:

no_true_pair Sept 15th: Tybalt & Orion - under the midnight
Notes: I saw a chance here to do a mirror of the scene between Sable and Em and I wanted to work with that idea, so yes. That's how we got here.

Orion tilts their head toward the moon, letting the light ghost over them as they enjoy the sounds of midnight in a forest clearing. (Comm is locked, but membership is open)

vexed_wench posting in

no_true_pair

Title: Meteor Shower & Snacks
At Ao3

Fandom: Supernatural & Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
Pairing/Characters: Sam Winchester & Alphonse Elric
Content Notes: This verse takes place after 3.15 Time is on my side. Sam decodes Doc Benton's journal and comes up with a plan to break Dean's deal with alchemy.
They soon find themselves in another world, being thrust into a bizarre government conspiracy. They decide to help and work one last job before they retire.
Prompt: September Fifteen - Sam Winchester & Alphonse Elric - under the midnight

merriamwebster_feed

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/facsimile-2026-09-16

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2026 is:

facsimile • \fak-SIM-uh-lee\ • noun

A facsimile is an exact copy of something. The word facsimile is also still sometimes used to refer to a system of transmitting and reproducing graphic matter, such as printed text or photos, though the word fax is more common.

// The forged painting was an impressive facsimile of the original.

// The documents can be sent by facsimile to the number below.

See the entry >

Examples:

“The installation could be read as an invocation of [Widline] Cadet’s mother’s Washington Heights apartment. … ‘For Haitian families,’ she says, ‘the living room is a sacred place.’ And yet, this is no mere facsimile of a Haitian living room. Like much of Cadet’s work, the installation, titled Altar #2, hovers between reality and fantasy.” — Elly Fishman, Vogue, 8 May 2026

Did you know?

The facsimile machine (or fax machine) has long been an office staple, but its name is much, much older. Fac simile is a Latin phrase meaning “make alike.” English speakers began using facsimile to mean “an exact copy” in the late 1600s. In this sense, a facsimile might be a handwritten or hand-drawn copy, or even a copy of a painting or statue. (Today, we also use the phrase “a reasonable facsimile” for a copy that is fairly close but not exact.) In the 1800s, people developed facsimile technology that could reproduce printed material via telegraph. Now, of course, we use telephone lines or wireless technology, and we usually call the resulting facsimile a fax.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/facsimile-2026-09-16

yuuago

WELL today was kind of a mess.

We got a last-minute complex request toward the end of the day that we scrambled to work on and will finish in the morning. It also has a very good chance of being cancelled. I did just enough OT for me to miss my bus and then I had to stand in the rain waiting for the next one.

Also had a tricky situation in which a client called us with a complaint, I contacted the vendor to check, and the conclusion we all came to was "the client is lying". So I had to find a tactful way to tell that to the person handling that client. (Fortunately, they saw where I was coming from). We don't get a lot of issues like this, but when they do happen it's always kind of stressful.

AND ALSO. I received a notice of a questionable charge to my credit card (personal, not work). SO, I had to call the company to deal with all that, and now it's locked and they're going to send me a new card. Did I mention that I'll be traveling out of province in two weeks? Fortunately, I have a debit card that I can use if it doesn't arrive in time, but uh... this was not as planned.

Also, the contract for the paid instructor at our judo club has ended, and he's going back to Japan. The club is going back to volunteer-only instruction now. Found out yesterday. I'm not entirely surprised - it's very expensive to maintain both the club space and a paid instructor - but the short notice is unexpected. Though probably it was a subject of board discussions for a while. Anyway, I did appreciate that he focused so much on technique, but overall this probably won't affect me much, though I expect there will be times when classes are cancelled due to lack of instructor availability. But we'll see.

...Can we like, rewind things to last week, maybe? I just ain't feelin' it, yo.

cornerofmadness

Two distinct software things bit the dust today. First question asked, did Dana touch it? Yes, shut up. Let me alone. It is not my fault electronic things tend to go haywire around me.

It was an incredibly long day. But it ended well. I got my Ohio Renn fest tickets for next weekend, WAY earlier than I usually go but Jacques ze Whipper is going to be there for the first time. I was not missing it. Pray I remember to finally charge up my neck fan so I don't die. I will take my You Matter fan too and dear self Bring. Electrolytes!! You have powder packs. BRING and put in water.

The fandom meme I'm using Buffy for

Day 20: Favourite outfits - Anything Cordelia chase had on. She might have been a bitch but they knew how to dress her. Angelus's leather pants, red silk shirt combo. And to be honest Buffy had several great ones too

( all the questions under here )

Current Mood: blah
Current Music: Miss Fisher's Mysteries

olivermoss

* Mr Beast's new book is making tons of money... for everyone but him. His collab with James Patterson might be a historic flop, but the smaller content creators have been given a feast.

* I clicked on a youtube video claiming to be a tutorial and... and it wanted me to click a QR code to download something where I'd be able to ask a custom AI questions and be guided on how to use the program.

I should be able to sue that guy for emotional damage.

Also, like... the chances that the download wasn't going to have something funky? Malware? miner? yeah hahahaha haha haha ahahaha aaahhh.... noooooo

torachan

1. I had a lot of meetings today, but they were at least fairly interesting/engaging meetings.

2. Carla went out for a bike ride this morning and on her way back, stopped to fiddle with a setting on her bike and happened to be right in front of a bahn mi restaurant that was just opening for the day, so she ended up getting a sandwich there and really liked it, so we're planning on going back together sometime in the coming week.

3. Molly!

petra

Hey, people who did this meme: was this horribly depressing when you did it, or is it just me? Not because of the low interaction counts, but because of the nostalgia. And the dead friendships. And the dead people.

Hits: 6

There once was a snowman quite jaunty - Cabin Pressure, clean limerick for Xinzhou

Blazingfire.com - DCU, Green Arrow limerick about Beatriz da Costa's website

Hits: 7

Pete and Repeat - Cyteen drabble. I have so many feelings about that title. Mostly "Cheap joke, baby!Petra."

There once was a tan camel camel - Cabin Pressure, clean limerick for Timbuktu (Timbuktu)

Kudos: 0 - I skipped the just-a-drabble and just-one-limerick ones, which are legion. The remainder are

At her mercy - Ashes to Ashes (already not most popular fandom), Alex Drake/Jim Keats (...nobody ships this), Directedverse (yep.). I love that not even the person I gifted this to wanted to admit to reading it.

Preliminary Gaiety - very old Les Misérables, Combeferre/Grantaire, from the era when we gave everybody first names. Written for Catherine Lafontaine, whom I hope is doing well, wherever she is.

Losses, more Combeferre/Grantaire from the same series, I cannot IMAGINE why no one has kudosed my fic from 2003 (no, wait, I really can; I had a lot to learn).

There is another one in this series with 0 kudos but you get the picture.

There once was an old man named Luc - More Les Misérables, this a limerick cycle of M. Gillenormand/Original Female Character, with Pontmercy incursion. This one's got redeeming silliness on its side, and I think it's clever.

Doggerel, which is actually prose of the Bossuet/Jehan Prouvaire variety, Les Misérables again.

May - Les Misérables. I love this one, but it's Jehan Prouvaire/Luc-Ésprit Gillenormand. Yes, really. So. Um. Yeah. Somewhere there is someone who used to go by Echo who cowrote it with me, and I miss that lovely person very much.

Nor am I out of it - Promethan Age/Slings & Arrows, in which Darren Nichols meets Kit Marlowe. If you understand all of those words, you have probably now cancelled me for writing EBear fic. It was nice knowing you. Dedicated to giglet, but not gifted to her, because I posted it to AO3 after she passed. I miss her so often.

Bookmarks: 0 - I have so many; these 3 chosen because they were neither drabbles nor limericks and before I ran out of patience, so -- early in the alphabet, fandom-wise:

It is the time the I must start again - Doctor Who villanelle on regeneration, in which theme fits form very nicely.

Holiday makers - Ashes to Ashes/DCU, Barbara Gordon has just been shot and goes back in time because of course she does.

DVD commentary of Teland's Entelechy - DCU meta. This story hurt me so much I wrote about it. Long! Not just Te's part!

Current Mood: time for the alex drake icon
Current Music: There are places I'll remember all my life

moon_custafer

Still in the Nominations stage. I decided I’d nominate some of the stuff I read/watched in the past couple of weeks.

soc_puppet

I survived my interview! (I also managed to get my blazer ironed last night 😂) I sent out my thank-you email a little while ago as well. Thank you, Allison Green of Ask A Manager, for helping me prepare!

I think the interview went reasonably well, given my lack of experience. The interviewer was the (reasonably new) head of the test center, and he was joined in the interview by the two full time test center workers, who all seem pretty cool. Test Center Head has promised an answer sometime next week, so we'll see how it goes 🤞

I like to think I'm prepared for either answer; I know what my next steps are if I don't get the job, but I must admit, I'm a little anxious for if I do get the job! It'll be a fairly significant change in my life, even if it is a good one. We'll see, I guess!

celli

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

questionable_content_feed

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5918

ysabetwordsmith

This is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from

fuzzyred. It also fills the "excitement" square in my 9-1-26 card for the Life Events Bingo fest. This poem belongs to the series Coracle Shores.

( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

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Rafi Winters

April 2017

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Page Summary

southernmedicine - (no subject)
everygoddamnday_feed - Wait! You mean we don't gotta pay taxes?
kevinandkell_feed - It's not easy being green
elf - Links - Tech Recs
phys_breaking_feed - Chimpanzees give youngsters the tools to learn tricky techniques
olivermoss - This is going to ruin the tour....
creepy_shetan in comment_fic - Tues/Wed Pinch Hit ✎ Personality Traits [DW]
ashelterofpages in no_true_pair - Sept 15th: We Grant Ourselves This Kindness - Original Work - Tybalt and Orion
vexed_wench in no_true_pair - September Fifteen - Sam Winchester & Alphonse Elric - under the midnight
merriamwebster_feed - facsimile
yuuago - Well. Allrighty then.
cornerofmadness - Did you touch it?
olivermoss - (no subject)
torachan - Daily Happiness
petra - Least Hits/Kudos/Bookmarks Meme
moon_custafer - Yuletide Is Gearing Up
soc_puppet - Interview: Complete
celli - recovering slowly
questionable_content_feed - Occam's Safety Razor
ysabetwordsmith - Poem: "Throughout Sky, Sea, and Soil"

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Style: Over The Hills for Bannering by branchandroot
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Page generated Sep. 16th, 2026 05:59 am

Since I Am Loved

Thank You for the Music

Network

(no subject)

Wait! You mean we don't gotta pay taxes?

It's not easy being green

Links - Tech Recs

Chimpanzees give youngsters the tools to learn tricky techniques

This is going to ruin the tour....

Tues/Wed Pinch Hit ✎ Personality Traits [DW]

Sept 15th: We Grant Ourselves This Kindness - Original Work - Tybalt and Orion

September Fifteen - Sam Winchester & Alphonse Elric - under the midnight

facsimile

Well. Allrighty then.

Did you touch it?

(no subject)

Daily Happiness

Least Hits/Kudos/Bookmarks Meme

Yuletide Is Gearing Up

Interview: Complete

recovering slowly

Occam's Safety Razor

Poem: "Throughout Sky, Sea, and Soil"

Profile

April 2017

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