*banned 4 MarkDown love* @design_RG@qoto.org

And if anyone hasn't had enough of Xmas for the year, how about this?

8 Hours of Department Store Christmas Music. No kidding. #xp #NoThanks

https://boingboing.net/2019/12/21/and-now-eight-hours-of-vintag.html

https://youtu.be/nQKlEkKXBzQ

#Fediverse is full of #Books and #BookLovers -- Do you know about LibraryThing ? a GREAT place to create a catalog of your own books, find recommendations, read reviews, etc.

https://www.librarything.com/

For Readers, Writers and book lovers, a neat place to be. #xp
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RT @LibraryThing
Merry Christmas from LibraryThing! May your day be full of joy and your stocking full of books.
https://twitter.com/LibraryThing/status/1209828798432194562

The Economist, a #favourite here. #xp #economics #earth #Internationalism
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RT @TheEconomist
Our special report from July shows that the golden age of globalisation may be over, and thinly-stretched supply chains are slowly unravelling https://econ.st/2LGc5cd
https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1209824761234239488

Gladstone is the official Cat of Her Majesty's Treasury in the UK. Besides being a beautiful mini Black Panther.

#Familiars #xp #Cats #CatsOfMastodon #mastocats #meow
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RT @TreasuryMog
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, nothing was stirring, not even a mouse. Of course not, I'm a fabulous mouser! (Pic from treasury_cat on instagram)
https://twitter.com/TreasuryMog/status/1209584357805035522

Attentive class.

#xp #cats #catsofMastodon #mastocats
---
RT @gayocats
1117533961818
https://twitter.com/gayocats/status/1209823613462835200

@Iambharani Very nice, thank you! Great video.

It's Winter and always a more difficult time, for many if not most here in the Northern latitudes.

There's hope in the promise of Spring.

Celebrate Solstice and Yule.

https://write.tedomum.net/rgx/yule-and-solstice-season-greetings

@jump_spider Wonderful post, thank you!

@realcaseyrollins Awesome! It looks powerful from all the controls you can see in the screen.

I use Irfanview all the time, it has lots of functions and is probably easier than Gimp, has done the work I need so far. Gimp has the advantage of being cross platform too, in Windows and Linux, while Irfanview is Windows only.

Should check the Paint.NET one, I have heard about it. And I did use MS Paint just the other day - to make a mockup of an enhanced Pinafore screen layout proposal/request to the author.

Well done, Casey -- I can;t believe how active and busy you are! 👍

@Saederup92 @Hedieh Hang in there Hedieh, better days will come. 👍

@realcaseyrollins LOL, yeah, I noticed. lol....

Subtle humour is the *best*.

#Slowly is for #writers. Thank you to @slowlyapp@twitter.com Team for publishing my story! It is a full letter to a new #penpal in #japan and I thought it would look great in a Blog format. #xp

RT @slowlyapp@twitter.com

RG🇨🇦 learned from his pen pal that Japanese🇯🇵 would take a yuzu bath🍊🛀 during Winter Solstice🍃

https://www.getslowly.com/en/story/rg/

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/slowlyapp/status/1209753312439857157

@freemo The tubs are water tight by their construction alone, I believe, similar to wine barrels. Wood should expand a bit when wet and hot.

I built a shower stand many years ago in cedar slats and it was lovely - the smell, the texture of the wood under my feet. Left the wood untreated, and curiously, the common nails did not rust, protected by the wood's natural oils.

@freemo @freemo Wikipedia has a short page about Furo, or Ofuro as it is also called. I have heard the water is quite hot, here's what they say:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furo

"Furo are part of the Japanese ritual of bathing, not meant for washing but rather for relaxing and warming oneself. Washing is carried out separately outside the yubune. The bather should enter the water only after rinsing or lightly showering. Generally Japanese bathrooms are small by Western standards, so the bathroom is set up much like a walk-in shower area but containing the furo. Since the bathroom is a complete wet area, in modern buildings and ryokan heating is provided by air conditioners overhead. The water is hot, usually about 100 to 108 °F (38 to 42 °C).

@toneji I think it's a lovely custom! A Japanese penpal friend just told me about it and sent me that photo. I imagine it must feel really nice to be in hot water with the fruit floating around too.

@freemo The heat in the Furo tubs must be nice too, would love to try it. A Cedar one, specially, which must smell good with the hot water in it.

"Soaking in baths full of fruit in Japan"

"In Japan, people traditionally soak in hot baths with the yuzu citrus fruit to welcome the winter solstice and protect their bodies from the common cold. During last year’s solstice celebration, children from a local preschool shared a dip in a traditional yuzu tub in the city of Toyooka as dozens of the yellow yuzu fruits surrounded them on the surface, according to Japan’s daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun."

https://time.com/5060889/winter-solstice-rituals/

@freemo 😃 Got one too.
Feliz Navidad!