Привет! LiveJournal imports may be slow
Dec. 31st, 2025 08:24 pm![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
denise posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceПривет and welcome to our new Russian friends from LiveJournal! We are happy to offer you a new home. We will not require identification for you to post or comment. We also do not cooperate with Russian government requests for any information about your account unless they go through a United States court first. (And it hasn't happened in 16 years!)
Importing your journal from ЖЖ may be slow. There are a lot of you, with many posts and comments, and we have to limit how fast we download your information from ЖЖ so they don't block us. Please be patient! We have been watching and fixing errors, and we will go back to doing that after the holiday is over.
I am very sorry that we can't translate the site into Russian or offer support in Russian. We are a much, much smaller company than LiveJournal is, and my high school Russian classes were a very long time ago :) But at least we aren't owned by Sberbank!
С Новым Годом, and welcome home!
EDIT: Большое спасибо всем за помощь друг другу в комментариях! Я ценю каждого, кто предоставляет нашим новым соседям информацию, понятную им без необходимости искать её в Google. :) И спасибо вам за терпение к моему русскому переводу с помощью Google Translate! Прошло уже много-много лет со школьных времен!
Thank you also to everyone who's been giving our new neighbors a warm welcome. I love you all ❤️
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Tuesday word: Fireplace
Dec. 30th, 2025 09:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
simplyn2deep posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
1word1dayTuesday, December 30, 2025
Fireplace (noun)
fire·place [fahyuhr-pleys]
noun
1. the part of a chimney that opens into a room and in which fuel is burned; hearth.
2. any open structure, usually of masonry, for keeping a fire, as at a campsite.
Related Words
chimney, furnace, stove
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Origin: First recorded in 1645–55; fire + place
Example Sentences
The living area comes complete with a cozy fireplace and an expansive view of the backyard, which features a resort-style pool.
From MarketWatch
“The living room wasn’t big enough, and it featured a huge red brick fireplace that had doors on either side of it, leading to the backyard,” said Warwas.
From Los Angeles Times
The faces of the women, who are sitting in front of a grand fireplace, have been redacted with black squares.
From BBC
Hearing Nat King Cole croon about chestnuts roasting on an open fire dozens of times is one of the many reminders that fireplaces are luxuries most of us don’t have.
From Salon
I can relax by the fireplace, newly appreciating the relative safety of home.
From The Wall Street Journal
Fireplace (noun)
fire·place [fahyuhr-pleys]
noun
1. the part of a chimney that opens into a room and in which fuel is burned; hearth.
2. any open structure, usually of masonry, for keeping a fire, as at a campsite.
Related Words
chimney, furnace, stove
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
Origin: First recorded in 1645–55; fire + place
Example Sentences
The living area comes complete with a cozy fireplace and an expansive view of the backyard, which features a resort-style pool.
From MarketWatch
“The living room wasn’t big enough, and it featured a huge red brick fireplace that had doors on either side of it, leading to the backyard,” said Warwas.
From Los Angeles Times
The faces of the women, who are sitting in front of a grand fireplace, have been redacted with black squares.
From BBC
Hearing Nat King Cole croon about chestnuts roasting on an open fire dozens of times is one of the many reminders that fireplaces are luxuries most of us don’t have.
From Salon
I can relax by the fireplace, newly appreciating the relative safety of home.
From The Wall Street Journal
Monday Word: Maquette
Dec. 29th, 2025 06:57 amstonepicnicking_okapi posting in 1word1daymaquette [ma-ket, muh-]
noun
a small model or study in three dimensions for either a sculptural or an architectural project.
examples
1. we make midnight a maquette of the year: "on new year's eve" by Evie Shockley
2. This hand-painted cold-cast porcelain maquette of Owlman is based on art from the highly anticipated Warner Home Video made-for-DVD animated original movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths! DC Comics for February 2010 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009
origin
1900–05; < French < Italian macchietta, diminutive of macchia a sketch, complex of lines < Latin macula mesh, spot
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's maquette for the fountain he donated to Valenciennes
noun
a small model or study in three dimensions for either a sculptural or an architectural project.
examples
1. we make midnight a maquette of the year: "on new year's eve" by Evie Shockley
2. This hand-painted cold-cast porcelain maquette of Owlman is based on art from the highly anticipated Warner Home Video made-for-DVD animated original movie, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths! DC Comics for February 2010 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News 2009
origin
1900–05; < French < Italian macchietta, diminutive of macchia a sketch, complex of lines < Latin macula mesh, spot
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's maquette for the fountain he donated to Valenciennes
Sunday Word: Contemporaneous
Dec. 28th, 2025 12:09 pmsallymn posting in 1word1daycontemporaneous [kuhn-tem-puh-rey-nee-uhs]
adjective:
existing, beginning, or occurring in the same period of time
Examples:
Some economic data, such as last month’s unemployment rate and consumer-inflation numbers, can’t be compiled retroactively, the Labor Department has said, because they rely on contemporaneous surveys. (Nick Timiraos and Matt Grossman, Wholesale Price Gains Hint at Muted Rise in Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge, The Wall Street Journal, November 2025)
These moments of reckoning - in which something that once felt exciting begins to seem noxious, mephitic, dangerous - are important to heed. (Alex Ross, At Ninety, Arvo Pärt and Terry Riley Still Sound Vital, The New Yorker, November 2025)
In addition to contemporaneous comics, architecture, and music, the film explores the influence of the space race on everyday life of the 1960s. (Ben Sachs, Lewis Klahr’s Sixty Six is a masterful journey through inner space and the American past, Chicago Reader, May 2017)
It gave the explanation, gave sanity to the pranks of this atavistic brain of mine that, modern and normal, harked back to a past so remote as to be contemporaneous with the raw beginnings of mankind. (Jack London, Before Adam)
Origin:
'living or existing at the same time,' 1650s, from Late Latin contemporaneus 'contemporary,' from the same Latin source as contemporary but with an extended form after Late Latin temporaneous 'timely.' An earlier adjective was contemporanean (1550s). (Online Etymology Dictionary)
weight and sleep and health
Dec. 24th, 2025 09:26 amhudebnik159.8 lbs.
breakfast: grapefruit, yogurt, cereal, soy milk, dried cranberries
mid-morning: protein bar
lunch: fish, tapenade, quinoa, dessert bites
mid-afternoon: trail mix
dinner: hamburger, French fries
snacks: cookies
dessert: hot chocolate
In bed 12:30ish, with D. Up 8:45.
breakfast: grapefruit, yogurt, cereal, soy milk, dried cranberries
mid-morning: protein bar
lunch: fish, tapenade, quinoa, dessert bites
mid-afternoon: trail mix
dinner: hamburger, French fries
snacks: cookies
dessert: hot chocolate
In bed 12:30ish, with D. Up 8:45.
Tuesday word: Reindeer
Dec. 23rd, 2025 12:44 pmsimplyn2deep posting in 1word1dayTuesday, December 23, 2025
Reindeer (noun)
rein·deer [reyn-deer]
noun
1. any of several large deer of the genus Rangifer, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, both male and female of which have antlers.
Compare meaning
How does reindeer compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
reindeer vs. deer
caribou vs. reindeer
Origin: First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English raynder(e), from Old Norse hreindȳri, equivalent to hreinn “reindeer” + dȳr “animal” (cognate with deer )
Example Sentences
It's also got a proper tree with decorations, there's a Rudolf reindeer toy and they've put some thought into all the splashes of red.
From BBC
"The trip meant so much to us. Leighton loved Lapland and enjoyed all the activities like visiting Santa's post office, Mrs Claus' house and seeing the reindeer," he added.
From BBC
Animal activists are calling for a ban on live reindeer events this Christmas, claiming their evidence shows serious welfare concerns.
From BBC
Let the reindeer chow cool before serving — or packing.
From Salon
A sign states that “Santa is feeding the reindeer.”
From Los Angeles Times
Reindeer (noun)
rein·deer [reyn-deer]
noun
1. any of several large deer of the genus Rangifer, of northern and arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, both male and female of which have antlers.
Compare meaning
How does reindeer compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
reindeer vs. deer
caribou vs. reindeer
Origin: First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English raynder(e), from Old Norse hreindȳri, equivalent to hreinn “reindeer” + dȳr “animal” (cognate with deer )
Example Sentences
It's also got a proper tree with decorations, there's a Rudolf reindeer toy and they've put some thought into all the splashes of red.
From BBC
"The trip meant so much to us. Leighton loved Lapland and enjoyed all the activities like visiting Santa's post office, Mrs Claus' house and seeing the reindeer," he added.
From BBC
Animal activists are calling for a ban on live reindeer events this Christmas, claiming their evidence shows serious welfare concerns.
From BBC
Let the reindeer chow cool before serving — or packing.
From Salon
A sign states that “Santa is feeding the reindeer.”
From Los Angeles Times
Dream journal
Dec. 23rd, 2025 08:15 amhudebnikshalmestere and I were staying at somebody's house, and took the opportunity to take a hike in the mountains (fairly arid and bare, perhaps southern California) starting just around the corner from the house. I had taken the same hike solo the day before and enjoyed it, but recalled that the maps in the guidebook weren't entirely clear, and there was no signage at all on the trail. Just as shalmestere started up the first hill, I realized that I hadn't put the shawms in the car, which was a problem as we would need them the next place we were going. I offered to go back to the house and get the shawms, but didn't want shalmestere to get lost before I could catch up with her, so I told her "if you get to an intersection of trails and it isn't absolutely clear which way to go, stop and wait for me." [Why we didn't just get the instruments after finishing the hike must be attributed to dream logic.]
Monday Word: Ignavia
Dec. 22nd, 2025 05:56 pmstonepicnicking_okapi posting in 1word1dayignavia /iɲˈɲa.vja/
noun
1. the sin of sloth or idleness or moral cowardice.
examples
1. Every honest man will admit that a violent effort is necessary to shake off ignavia critica critical laziness, that so widespread form of intellectual cowardice; that this effort must be constantly repeated, and that it is often accompanied by real suffering. ON BELIEVING WHAT WE’RE TOLD. 21 Dec 2004
2. The pity that proves so possible and plentiful without that basis, is mere ignavia and cowardly effeminacy; maudlin laxity of heart, grounded on blinkard dimness of head -- contemptible as a drunkard's tears. Latter-Day Pamphlets. Thomas Carlyle. 1838
origin
Latin
The Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, Canto 18: The multitude of the slothful - Illustration by Gustave Dore
noun
1. the sin of sloth or idleness or moral cowardice.
examples
1. Every honest man will admit that a violent effort is necessary to shake off ignavia critica critical laziness, that so widespread form of intellectual cowardice; that this effort must be constantly repeated, and that it is often accompanied by real suffering. ON BELIEVING WHAT WE’RE TOLD. 21 Dec 2004
2. The pity that proves so possible and plentiful without that basis, is mere ignavia and cowardly effeminacy; maudlin laxity of heart, grounded on blinkard dimness of head -- contemptible as a drunkard's tears. Latter-Day Pamphlets. Thomas Carlyle. 1838
origin
Latin
The Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, Canto 18: The multitude of the slothful - Illustration by Gustave Dore
Leuven
Oct. 11th, 2025 09:23 pmhudebnikSaturday we had reserved tickets to the M museum in Leuven, to make double-sure we didn’t miss the Leuven Chansonnier exhibit. So we took a train to Leuven (a 20-30 minute ride) and walked to the museum.
We needn’t have worried: the museum wasn’t crowded. M Museum is all about juxtaposing old and new: every room seemed to have Renaissance art alongside 20th or 21st century art on the same theme, or commenting on the Renaissance works. The first floor was given over to permanent collections (an impressive collection of Renaissance stuff, and I have no idea how impressive the modern collection was), while part of the second was “The Pursuit of Knowledge”, an exhibition about the 600-year history of KU Leuven that includes the Chansonnier.
I was uncertain how the museum would go about presenting the Leuven Chansonnier, which is after all a single object the size of a large wallet. The installation, entitled "Forty-Nine", set up a darkened room, with speakers on all sides and The Book partly open in a lit display case in the center, and played a recording of piece 49 from the Chansonnier (one of its 12 unica, pieces not known from any other source). On the front wall, five spots of light became the five performers on the recording — two singers, two lutes, and a vielle — with various digital manipulations done on their images. Effective.
Anyway, we saw a bunch of other stuff from the University’s collections -- fossils, 19th-century lab equipment, etc. -- before leaving the museum.
Stopped at the nearby Sintpieterskeerk, which houses Dietrich Bouts's famous and influential Last Supper, as well as a couple of other Bouts pieces.
Obligatory visit to the modern statue of a student having knowledge poured into its head, then walked back to the station for the train to Brussels. Got take-out Thai food and ate it in the room.
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We needn’t have worried: the museum wasn’t crowded. M Museum is all about juxtaposing old and new: every room seemed to have Renaissance art alongside 20th or 21st century art on the same theme, or commenting on the Renaissance works. The first floor was given over to permanent collections (an impressive collection of Renaissance stuff, and I have no idea how impressive the modern collection was), while part of the second was “The Pursuit of Knowledge”, an exhibition about the 600-year history of KU Leuven that includes the Chansonnier.
I was uncertain how the museum would go about presenting the Leuven Chansonnier, which is after all a single object the size of a large wallet. The installation, entitled "Forty-Nine", set up a darkened room, with speakers on all sides and The Book partly open in a lit display case in the center, and played a recording of piece 49 from the Chansonnier (one of its 12 unica, pieces not known from any other source). On the front wall, five spots of light became the five performers on the recording — two singers, two lutes, and a vielle — with various digital manipulations done on their images. Effective.
Anyway, we saw a bunch of other stuff from the University’s collections -- fossils, 19th-century lab equipment, etc. -- before leaving the museum.
 |
 |
Stopped at the nearby Sintpieterskeerk, which houses Dietrich Bouts's famous and influential Last Supper, as well as a couple of other Bouts pieces.
Obligatory visit to the modern statue of a student having knowledge poured into its head, then walked back to the station for the train to Brussels. Got take-out Thai food and ate it in the room.
Brussels
Oct. 10th, 2025 09:20 pmhudebnikAs planned, took a morning train from Tournai to Brussels (most of the stops were Not Silly).
As soon as we got out of the station,shalmestere spotted a poster with medieval drolleries advertising a museum exhibit. She took a photo of it, but we were more immediately concerned with finding our hotel. Which we did without much trouble; it involved walking past some homeless people and the like, but it was a straight shot from the station.
Then looked at the photo again, looked up the museum (KBR -- the Royal Library of Belgium) online, concluded it was an exhibition of medieval manuscripts around the theme of music, and decided this was What We Should Do Today.
Walked back to the station and just a bit past it to the exhibition. Which was indeed awesome.
The KBR's permanent collection includes 279 medieval manuscripts from the Dukes of Burgundy, including most of the famous collection of Queen Marguerite of Austria, and many of them were on display. Some of the musical connections were a stretch — "this is a really cool manuscript, and if you look at the drolleries in the inner margin of the recto page, one of them is an animal playing a harp" — but an excellent collection.
Back to the room. I took a bag of dirty socks and shirts to a nearby laundromat and, while waiting for the wash cycle, hunted for nearby grocery stores. Didn’t find much, but got some yogurt for breakfast-in-the-room. And we both have enough clean clothes to get through the end of the vacation, even if our flight is delayed.
As soon as we got out of the station,
shalmestere spotted a poster with medieval drolleries advertising a museum exhibit. She took a photo of it, but we were more immediately concerned with finding our hotel. Which we did without much trouble; it involved walking past some homeless people and the like, but it was a straight shot from the station.
Then looked at the photo again, looked up the museum (KBR -- the Royal Library of Belgium) online, concluded it was an exhibition of medieval manuscripts around the theme of music, and decided this was What We Should Do Today.
Walked back to the station and just a bit past it to the exhibition. Which was indeed awesome.
The KBR's permanent collection includes 279 medieval manuscripts from the Dukes of Burgundy, including most of the famous collection of Queen Marguerite of Austria, and many of them were on display. Some of the musical connections were a stretch — "this is a really cool manuscript, and if you look at the drolleries in the inner margin of the recto page, one of them is an animal playing a harp" — but an excellent collection.
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Here's a page from the famous "Brussels" black-paper basse-danse manuscript, from which much of our knowledge of early basse-danse choreography (and a little knowledge of musical ornamentation) comes. I suspect this is actually a facsimile: the real manuscript is in this library, but I've been told it's extremely fragile (the dyes that turn paper black aren't good for its longevity), and what's in the display case is in excellent condition. |
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Neumatic chant notation from the 8th century Antiphonary of Mont Blandin |
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Neumatic chant notation from the 12th century Sacramentarium of Stavelot Abbey |
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Marginal picture of a transverse-flute player (?) |
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Marginal picture of a man pushing another man in a wheelbarrow (from Breviary of Louis de Male, 14c) |
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A treatise on music, with drawings of musical instruments (14th century, Park Abbey). Includes a straight trumpet ("tuba" or "basoun"), a horn ("corn&o" or "horn"), a harp ("cithara" or "harp"), something that might be a citole, two recorders ("fistula" or "floyt"), and a snare drum ("tympanum" or [indecipherable]). |
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Shepherds playing bagpipe, entertaining the hounds and the sheep |
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An opening from (one of) the Chansonnier of Queen Marguerite of Austria |
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A young 15th-century nobleman being shown the error of his lascivious ways (including music, hounds, everything that makes life fun) |
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A 15th-century representation of the Guidonian hand |
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A banquet scene, with alta capella playing from the gallery, from the Histoire de Charles Martel (1465) |
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Another banquet scene, with alta capella playing from the gallery, from the Chroniques de Hainaut (1465) |
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A tournament with an alta capella playing from the gallery (15c) |
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A royal procession, with holy relics and an alta capella at the front, from Fleur des histoires, 15c |
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Not a "manuscript", technically, but a four-part piece printed on a tablecloth for Marie of Hungary, 1548. |
Back to the room. I took a bag of dirty socks and shirts to a nearby laundromat and, while waiting for the wash cycle, hunted for nearby grocery stores. Didn’t find much, but got some yogurt for breakfast-in-the-room. And we both have enough clean clothes to get through the end of the vacation, even if our flight is delayed.
Sunday Word: Mephitic
Dec. 21st, 2025 11:41 amsallymn posting in 1word1daymephitic [muh-fit-ik]
adjective:
1 offensive to the smell
2 noxious; pestilential; poisonous
Examples:
Like a mephitic vapor from a sword-and-sandals epic, it slips under the door frame and into your head. (Guy Trebay, We’re Holding Tight to Our Good Luck Talismans, The New York Times, April 2020)
These moments of reckoning - in which something that once felt exciting begins to seem noxious, mephitic, dangerous - are important to heed. (Amanda Petrusich, A Quest to Rename the Williamsburg Bridge for Sonny Rollins, The New Yorker, April 2017)
The A66 motorway takes you along the bank of a river that eventually opens into the Cantabrian Sea, but there's no water to be seen through a mephitic landscape of factories and warehouses. (Paul Richardson, A great white hope in Avilés, Asturias, The Guardian, July 2011)
Mephitic vapors - spontaneous combustion - pressure of gases born of long decay - any one of numberless phenomena might be responsible. (H P Lovecraft, 'The Haunter of the Dark')
I even made them remove from the opening, as I smelled the mephitic air that issued abundantly from it, and began myself to feel giddiness in consequence of having gone too near; so that I was compelled to withdraw quickly, and inhale a purer air. (Johann David Wyss, The Swiss Family Robinson)
Origin:
1620s, 'of poisonous smell, foul, noxious,' from Late Latin mephiticus, from Latin mephitis, mefitis 'noxious vapor, a pestilential exhalation, especially from the earth' (also personified as a goddess believed to have the power to avert it), an Italic word of uncertain origin. English use of mephitis is attested from 1706. (Online Etymology Dictionary)