Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "Books and Literacy." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

I'll be soliciting ideas for readers, writers, storytellers, scribes, editors, publishers, students, teachers, caregivers, children, parents, bookworms, nerds, bookstore owners, librarians, an anonymous benefactor, activists, volunteers, superheroes, supervillains, other bookish people, reading, writing, delighting the reader, editing, publishing, bookbinding, shopping for books, telling stories, teaching, inviting students to a lesson, demonstrating tools, educating the whole child, learning, studying, parenting, lending a hand, cooperating, concentrating on a current task, volunteering, supporting people in hard times, respecting people, modeling manners and skills, learning to trust others, observing the environment, engaging all the senses, cultivating a full life, creating intimacy, making friends, getting to know each other, cooking together, choosing your own goals, discovering things, improvising, adapting, cooperating, bartering, sharing, making mistakes, fixing what's broke, changing the world, accomplishing the impossible, other educational activities, books, scrolls, magical tomes, printing presses, pens and pencils, bookstores, libraries, Little Free Libraries, book nooks, windowseats, Montessori schools, other alternative schools, preschools or daycares, Montessori homeschool, prepared environment, colleges and universities, beautiful places, craft centers, community centers, coffeehouses, outdoor classrooms, parks, nature centers, other spaces designed for learning, Triton Teen Centers, mentor circles, intentional communities, clubs, quiet rooms, inclusive workplaces, Thalassia, the Maldives, the Lacuna, the Aqademy of the Qrossroads, Waldorf toys, Montessori materials, intrinsic motivation, child independence, respect for the child, freedom to choose, freedom of time and uninterrupted work periods, absorbent mind, post-traumatic growth, individualized education, three-part cards, language lessons, mathematics, diverse ages and abilities, self-correcting toys and lessons, natural consequences, freedom of movement, intentional neighboring, diversity, inclusivity, emotional closeness, nonsexual intimacies, first contact, rescue, interspecies relationships, trial and error, trust issues, teamwork, found family, complementary strengths and weaknesses, personal growth, and poetic forms in particular.


Currently eligible bingo card(s) for donors wishing to sponsor a square:

Valentines Bingo Card 2-1-26

Among my more relevant series for the main theme:

An Army of One involves education and reading in the Lacuna.

Arts and Crafts America focuses on fine arts and practical crafts, sometimes education. Bookbinding would be a logical craft.

The Bear Tunnels has future books in a past culture.

Daughters of the Apocalypse have to rediscover many historic skills for survival, including earlier methods of sharing knowledge.

Frankenstein's Family has two scientists teaching villagers to be thoughtful instead of stupid, and after a few years, several more people keenly interested in books and education.

Not Quite Kansas started with mishandling a book of spells, and involves trying to learn about a whole new world.

Path of the Paladins includes the Canticle of Thorns and other books.

Peculiar Obligations has Quakers in organized crime. The Religious Society of Friends has been greatly involved in education, including abolitionist and natural science publications.

Polychrome Heroics is largely about people learning things. Threads particularly focused on this include Antimatter and Stalwart Stan, Aquariana, the Big One, Danso and Family, Dr. Infanta, Iron Horses, Officer Pink, Rutledge, and Trichromatic Attachments.

Quixotic Ideas is set in a world with plenty of magic and a positive tone, where people often help each other and solve challenges peacefully. It includes a healthy magical school.

Schrodinger's Heroes save the world from alternate dimensions, and they learn a lot along the way.

Or you can ask for something new.

Linkbacks reveal a verse of any open linkback poem.

( New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

Hundreds of new species found in a hidden world beneath the Pacific

As demand for critical metals grows, scientists have taken a rare, close look at life on the deep Pacific seabed where mining may soon begin. Over five years and 160 days at sea, researchers documented nearly 800 species, many previously unknown. Test mining reduced animal abundance and diversity significantly, though the overall impact was smaller than expected. The study offers vital clues for how future mining could reshape one of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems.


Bluntly put, mining would destroy that very delicate ecosystem, and it would not recover. Also the ocean as a whole is struggling to cope with the damage humanity has already caused, and hasn't got the fault tolerance left to cover more.

With today's posts, all sponsored poems from the 2025 Holiday Poetry Sale have been posted.  You can now check the sale page for title links to see if you missed any earlier.

This poem came out of the January 7, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from helgatwb. It also fills the "Plunging Hoofs" square in my 1-1-25 card for the Public Domain Day Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred.


"To the Beat of Plunging Hooves"
-- an indriso


History is often late
To record what's done or said
By the needful, not the great.

Soleated, harnessed, led
Horses drive the wheels of fate
From behind or by the head.

History, like mountains, moves

To the beat of plunging hooves.

These are the content notes for "Each Diverse Human Gift."

( Read more... )

Here are the location notes for "Each Diverse Human Gift."

( Read more... )

Read "May we raise children who love the unloved things" by Nicolette Sowder.

This poem is spillover from the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from fuzzyred. It also fills the "Fresh-baked Bread / Rolls" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear Bingo fest, and the "Adaptive Equipment" square in my 9-1-24 card for the People with Disabilities Drabble Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the College Arc of the Shiv thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )

Hi, all!

We previously hosted our achievement badges on image-hosting site Imgur, but on 30 September, Imgur blocked people in the UK from accessing its content. It’s taken us a little while, but we’ve uploaded the badges to a private hosting site.

We’ve updated the Achievement Badges page and the Creator and Community Reports.

How do I update my badge links if I want to do that?
To update your badge links:

1. Go to the Creator Report and search on your username.


2. Under Details, click Badges, and then under View, click Badges again.
   
   
   
   Result: The badges you’ve earned will display, with a Copy Embed button under each.


3. Click the Copy Embed button under each of your badges, and paste the embed codes in place of your old badge links.

I can still see my badges! Do I have to update the links?
We have no plans to remove or change the old Imgur links. If you have badges embedded on your profile page or anywhere else, you can leave your badge links as is. But if you do, the badges will not be visible to people in the UK.

There's a new Greenland Defense Front video, "Not For Sale." :D

Some polar bears are getting fatter despite a warming Arctic

Polar bears tell you a lot about what’s going on in the Arctic. When food is hard to find, their bodies show it fast. When hunting gets easier, they put weight back on. Less sea ice has meant thinner polar bears and fewer of them.

That’s what makes the situation near Svalbard – midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole – so unexpected. Despite ongoing sea ice loss, adult polar bears there are not in worse shape.

Many are actually heavier than they were years ago. Extra fat is not a small detail for a polar bear. It often decides whether the animal gets through the year.


This is super exciting because for years I've been reading about Alaskan polar bears starving. If this other population is getting fatter, then maybe there is hope for the species. :D

( Read more... )

Today we ordered some landrace seeds from the Buffalo Seed Company. They have a lot of great options. This is also a step toward my goal of planting more landraces.

( Read more... )

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a large flock of sparrows and a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

I put out more birdseed and a new peanut suet cake.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 2/2/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night.
 

Thanks to nsfwords, the series Quixotic Ideas is now up to date. \o/  This is upbeat fantasy with magic integrated into everyday life.