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Search maintenance
Apr. 22nd, 2026 09:19 am![[staff profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user_staff.png){kind=small}
mark posting in ![[site community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/comm_staff.png){kind=small}
dw_maintenanceHappy Wednesday!
I'm taking search offline sometime today to upgrade the server to a new instance type. It should be down for a day or so -- sorry for the inconvenience. If you're curious, the existing search machine is over 10 years old and was starting to accumulate a decade of cruft...!
Also, apparently these older machines cost more than twice what the newer ones cost, on top of being slower. Trying to save a bit of maintenance and cost, and hopefully a Wednesday is okay!
Edited: The other cool thing is that this also means that the search index will be effectively realtime afterwards... no more waiting a few minutes for the indexer to catch new content.
Worktrip to Australia! [Week 1]
Apr. 22nd, 2026 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejA week and a half ago I returned from an extended businesstrip to Australia; I added some personal time before and after the two week international meeting. I made over 2500 photos while traveling through New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, so there will be several picspams over the next month(s) ;-) This is week 1 of my trip.
I first flew to Sydney where I walked around for a day trying to stay awake to fight the jetlag and I spent a day with my brother and family.
The weekend before work I went to an Australian Rules Football game in Melbourne and visited an underground gold mine, both together with a bunch of colleagues from all over the world.
( Day 1 & 2: flying to Sydney )
( Day 3: Sydney Opera House )
( Day 4: Ferry & Swimming with family )
( Day 5: Flying to Victoria & Birdspotting )
( Day 6: Australian Football in the MGC )
( Day 7: Underground Goldmine )
To be continued!
J.
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/589549.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)
I first flew to Sydney where I walked around for a day trying to stay awake to fight the jetlag and I spent a day with my brother and family.
The weekend before work I went to an Australian Rules Football game in Melbourne and visited an underground gold mine, both together with a bunch of colleagues from all over the world.
( Day 1 & 2: flying to Sydney )
( Day 3: Sydney Opera House )
( Day 4: Ferry & Swimming with family )
( Day 5: Flying to Victoria & Birdspotting )
( Day 6: Australian Football in the MGC )
( Day 7: Underground Goldmine )
To be continued!
J.
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/589549.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)
May Voting Post
Apr. 20th, 2026 10:26 ammonkiainen posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thestoryinside
How it works:
We're going to vote for two genres, based on the new voting selections. The two options with the most votes will be the choices for May. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact the mods or comment in our suggestion
post.
You are voting for TWO genres. Please tick TWO boxes only.
Poll #34499 May Voting Poll
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 5
Vote for TWO options
View Answers
thriller: mystery, crime, suspense, police procedurals
3 (60.0%)
horror: paranormal, ghost
0 (0.0%)
fantasy: dystopian, utopian, magical realism, supernatural, fairytale, folklore, mythology
3 (60.0%)
sci-fi: space, futuristic, steampunk
0 (0.0%)
nonfiction
0 (0.0%)
classics
0 (0.0%)
movie/tv adaptation
2 (40.0%)
lgbt theme
0 (0.0%)
historical fiction
1 (20.0%)
contemporary: family saga, women's fiction, literary fiction
1 (20.0%)
Choose ONE
April Discussion Post
Apr. 18th, 2026 12:45 pmmonkiainen posting in thestoryinside
It's time for our monthly discussion post! This post will remain open for you to contribute at any time, so no pressure. Even if you didn't get around to reading any of your selected books or opted out of participating for the month, you're still more than welcome to take part in the discussion.
Please copy and paste this in the comments!
From the Land Down Under to the Land of Art
Apr. 17th, 2026 04:19 pmbeelikejHello y'all,
I'm back from an extra long businesstrip to Australia! It was two weeks of work and I added a week and a half of personal time because it was an opportunity to visit family and friends. Once I've sorted out my photos, there will be many picspams, you have been warned :-D
I returned in time for a new round of Land of Art! Here is an invitation to join and create for all sorts of graphics challenges each month and earn points for yourself and your team. A new phase has just started, this on will run until July. If you click my Land of Art TAG, you can see examples of graphics I made for past challenges.
Check out the FAQs & Rules to find out more. You can apply for a Team here
I'm in team SteamPunk, if you mention my name, I get bonuspoints :-)
Looking forward to fiddle with graphics again. (But first I will start on those travel pictures!)
J.
I'm back from an extra long businesstrip to Australia! It was two weeks of work and I added a week and a half of personal time because it was an opportunity to visit family and friends. Once I've sorted out my photos, there will be many picspams, you have been warned :-D
I returned in time for a new round of Land of Art! Here is an invitation to join and create for all sorts of graphics challenges each month and earn points for yourself and your team. A new phase has just started, this on will run until July. If you click my Land of Art TAG, you can see examples of graphics I made for past challenges.
Check out the FAQs & Rules to find out more. You can apply for a Team here
I'm in team SteamPunk, if you mention my name, I get bonuspoints :-)
Looking forward to fiddle with graphics again. (But first I will start on those travel pictures!)
J.
Admin Post: Drawing Challenge #77 - Windows and Openings
Apr. 17th, 2026 06:02 pmmific posting in drawesomeThanks to mekare for suggesting this challenge. It was originally proposed by minoanmiss, and is a tribute to her memory.
Challenge #77: Windows and Openings
The spirit of the challenge is the way we're drawn to look through openings, whatever those may be. Windows, doors, holes in walls, in rocks, in trees, in fences around construction sites. You can draw or paint the view on either side - someone or something looking through, or what's to be seen on the other side. More abstract or conceptual interpretations are fine as well - a window on the past, the future, the eyes as windows of the soul, and so on.
If you want to create something to commemorateminoanmiss, some of her favorite things were the Minoan civilisation, goddesses, recursive images, and anything hopeful.
Once we reach May we're including mermaid-themed art as well, and mermaids were another thingminoanmiss loved. There are of course openings in rocks and seaweed forests under the waves, and windows in underwater cities. We'll do a reminder about the MerMay theme being added in when we get to May.
A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of May.
mekare for suggesting this challenge. It was originally proposed by minoanmiss, and is a tribute to her memory. Challenge #77: Windows and Openings
The spirit of the challenge is the way we're drawn to look through openings, whatever those may be. Windows, doors, holes in walls, in rocks, in trees, in fences around construction sites. You can draw or paint the view on either side - someone or something looking through, or what's to be seen on the other side. More abstract or conceptual interpretations are fine as well - a window on the past, the future, the eyes as windows of the soul, and so on.
If you want to create something to commemorate
minoanmiss, some of her favorite things were the Minoan civilisation, goddesses, recursive images, and anything hopeful. Once we reach May we're including mermaid-themed art as well, and mermaids were another thing
minoanmiss loved. There are of course openings in rocks and seaweed forests under the waves, and windows in underwater cities. We'll do a reminder about the MerMay theme being added in when we get to May. A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of May.
Drawing Challenge #76 (Tattoo Style) - Round-Up Post
Apr. 17th, 2026 05:50 pmmific posting in drawesome
Entries submitted for Drawing Challenge #76 - Tattoo Style:
Ilya'a Tattoo by
mific - Heated Rivalry, GShane's Tattoo by
mific - Heated Rivalry, GAs usual, this challenge as well as all of our previous challenges will remain open, so you can continue to submit entries to the community any time after the Round Up date. Be sure to tag your art post with the challenge name, so that it can be added to the list.
![[admin post]](//www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/admin_post.png)
Admin Post: Remembering Minoanmiss
Apr. 12th, 2026 05:44 pm![[admin post]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/admin_post.png){kind=small}
goss posting in drawesomeWe recently lost a very dear member of our community here at drawesome. minoanmiss loved creating and connecting with people. She was a really special person, and her thoughtful packages, art postcards and stickers brought so much joy to those in her orbit.
We say goodbye to our friendminoanmiss, and will always remember her fondly.
You're welcome to share your own pictures and remarks aboutminoanmiss in the comments of this memorial post.
Here are some of her artworks that she sent me over the years, including from our annual community card exchange: ( Photos )
Written bymekare:
♥
drawesome. minoanmiss loved creating and connecting with people. She was a really special person, and her thoughtful packages, art postcards and stickers brought so much joy to those in her orbit. We say goodbye to our friend
minoanmiss, and will always remember her fondly. You're welcome to share your own pictures and remarks about
minoanmiss in the comments of this memorial post. Here are some of her artworks that she sent me over the years, including from our annual community card exchange: ( Photos )
Written by
mekare:"Minoanmiss was an active participant right from the start of our
She let everyone feel welcome, commenting, drawing for almost every challenge (sometimes multiple pieces) and suggesting many creative challenge ideas herself (a lot of which were later used to spark everyone's creativity).
Her first artistic contribution was Poison Ivy for the second challenge, and she continued to delight us with more characters from comics universes, mermaids, figures from mythology and of course Minoan ladies (sometimes in space).
We are going to miss her dearly."
♥
Dizzo update
Apr. 12th, 2026 07:59 pmdizzojaySome of you may be aware that we have been undertaking some garden work over the last six months.
Our back garden was comprised of a patio which was almost 30 years old and time, together with a freaking great big tree root, had not been kind to it.
In short, it was a wreck!
Because of that, we had lost interest in maintainng it, so over the last two or three years it never got cleaned or patched up.
This was what it looked like in October 2025.
( Read more... )
Our back garden was comprised of a patio which was almost 30 years old and time, together with a freaking great big tree root, had not been kind to it.
In short, it was a wreck!
Because of that, we had lost interest in maintainng it, so over the last two or three years it never got cleaned or patched up.
This was what it looked like in October 2025.
( Read more... )
The case of the missing notifications
Apr. 11th, 2026 11:58 pmdenise posting in dw_maintenanceI keep forgetting to post about this: we've been troubleshooting the "missing notifications" problem for the past few days. (Well, I say "we", really I mean Mark and Robby; I'm just the amanuensis.) It's been one of those annoying loops of "find a logical explanation for what could be causing the problem, fix that thing, observe that the problem gets better for some people but doesn't go away completely, go back to step one and start again", sigh.
Mark is hauling out the heavy debugging ordinance to try to find the root cause. Once he's done building all the extra logging tools he needs, he'll comment to this entry. After he does, if you find a comment that should have gone to your inbox and sent an email notification but didn't, leave him a link to the comment that should have sent the notification, as long as the comment itself was made after Mark says he's collecting them. (I'd wait and post this after he gets the debug code in but I need to go to sleep and he's not sure how long it will take!)
We're sorry about the hassle! Irregular/sporadic issues like this are really hard to troubleshoot because it's impossible to know if they're fixed or if they're just not happening while you're looking. With luck, this will give us enough information to figure out the root cause for real this time.
