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radiantfracture

January 2026

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adore

Moontime began around midday today. I was cramping, and the herbal sanitary pads came in clutch. So so glad Instagram targeted me for these.

I've had an ultrasound done, and they found a fibroid sitting in my uterus. Getting the blood test to screen for PCOS proved more complicated because most major hospitals here don't have a PCOS package and add each test individually, which turns out prohibitively expensive. They all say they have a Gynaecology department but it's all pregnancy and childbirth, no menstrual health. This includes the hospitals that call themselves a 'women and children's hospital'. Hell, there's a whole hospital just for fertility and childbirth here, called The Birthplace. But nothing for menstrual health! It makes me so angry. Even the gynaecologist who diagnosed me, is one I consulted online because her specialisation is menstrual health whereas all the gynaecologists in my city specialise in fertility.

Since this is a fasting blood test I wanted to go to a hospital nearby. That didn't work out because they're obsessed with me giving birth when any woman who chooses to give birth does so for a much shorter span of her life than the span she spends menstruating!!!! *angry noises*

So I called Proactive For Her (through whom I'd had the online consultation with the gynaecologist who told me my periods are definitely abnormal). They said they only opened at nine, so I went and waited. Turns out they don't even have their own clinic space and they're sharing space with an IVF clinic (fucking fertility again). At least they have a presence in my city! I wouldn't have been able to get tested for PCOS if they didn't! They had a comprehensive PCOS panel for 5000 rupees. The other hospitals were charging 30,000 rupees because they didn't have an existing package and were adding each test individually!

No wonder so many women get told to just go have a baby whenever their periods are giving them trouble. It's because the gynaecologists telling them that haven't been trained for anything else. And it's not like the hospitals offer comprehensive testing, either.

What this experience drove home to me is that I never had the chance to get diagnosed earlier anyway because Proactive For Her only started three or so years ago, opened first in Bangalore and came to my city only recently. They do offer fertility and pregnancy related care, but they equally offer menstrual healthcare and women's sexual healthcare. They're the only gynaecologists I know here who screen for vaginismus, for instance.

Now I'm waiting for my report. Can't wait to get some answers!

On a lighter note (or more creepy note), Instagram is already targeting me for PCOS supplements. On the one hand I haven't been diagnosed yet, on the other hand I have a hunch I will be, on the third hand Instagram is sooo spying on me because it knows just from me mentioning being tested for PCOS aloud, on the fourth hand perhaps being spied on is worth it if it's serving me up useful information because I wouldn't know where to go hunting for supplements and this way I have all the choices in front of me, and on the fifth hand I use Instagram as a shopping and jobsearching site and not a social media one anyway so it's fineeee.

Current Mood: frustrated

smokingboot

So chums came and all our plans for going out fell apart. Instead we talked for something like 48 hours straight. It was excellent.

The valerian and chamomile tea is working a charm. For the last few days my sleep has been a lot better, and I am feeling more nourished, to the extent that I went into Edinburgh yesterday to get myself measured for bras. I have not bought any for a long time, and it's getting ridiculous.

'Girrrrl, there's literally nothing on this label, its so faded,' said the assistant. All my stuff is like that. I have to buy more clothes. Chum has massive thrift shop fu, and is great at spotting bargains among tat. She had inspired me, and R has been begging me to buy new clothes, but I don't like shopping at the best of times. Anyway, it had to be done. Right now, I spill out of my old bras like the mother of muffins.

Fitting services then; M&S you have to book for, Bravissimo... well, it was tucked away. So I popped into Anne Summers, and asked if they had such a service.

'We do,' said an assistant, ' I can do it for you now if you want.' The assistant was a transwoman, very big and broad. The shop was full of people, and the fitting room was just down the end. My choice, I decided to do this rather than go on down to Bravissimo. There should have been a choice of assistants for the sake of nervous women and women of faith, but was I all right? I had already shrugged and agreed so clearly on some level I had no worries with it. The fitting room was very close to the main part of the shop. If anything untoward happened, I would punch her gut and raise merry hell getting out, but my instinct told me nothing would happen.

She was absolutely fine, non touching except to check the label, almost non looking except in the most detached way. She didn't measure me; the idea was just to bring me bras until we found one that fitted. I kept myself covered, she got out of the way before I started to change, there was a button to push when I was ready for assistance, it was all very respectful and felt safe to the extent that having found the bra that worked, I was ready to search for more...

And then I wasn't. Nothing in her behaviour or demeanour changed, she was still non contact,non looking, friendly but not too friendly etc. The only factor was that I suddenly noticed, when she came into the tiny changing room, how huge she was against the door frame, that while her gut might be soft, her reach far extended mine, she seemed twice my size, and then it was there, flashback straight to the attack. 16 years ago now, almost mastered, but still, just a moment, a thing. And then I realised that it had been rising all this time, that my decision about potential attack, scream, and run, was not some everyday estimate of a shopping situation, but emblematic of the old PTSD, hypervigilance emerging slowly but aggressively, inappropriate. I had done well not to let this impact either of us, but now I had to get out. So I closed down the session, paid for the bra and left. It was constructive, and none of this could be laid at her door. She could not help her height, her size, or my recognition. She had behaved perfectly and had not threatened me in any way. Smiling I paid, got out, walked fast along the pavement to Waverley station.

I went home, every sense aware. The evening was coming in fast, and the late sun met me in a little tunnel between the road and the golf club. In came the light, so brilliant yet deep, gold and more gold, more and more, with no bottom to that feeling, no need to come out the other side. I wanted to plunge my hands in and scoop up the shining warmth, wash my face in the light, be well.

And I remember Whimsy describing me a long time ago saying You may be rubbish, but you're not broken. You're tumbling and golden!

Rubbish, tumbling and golden. That'll do.

conuly

I held the bannister and I got it

I sat down to look for it

I took it with me because I could not find it

Damn splinter!

muccamukk

Watch on YouTube

sovay

My plans to sleep out a recovery from Arisia were somewhat complicated by the move-in of the new upstairs neighbors and the resonating chamber of feet and furniture our bedroom immediately downstairs of this process necessarily turned into, but the snow remains beautifully fallen and is not even supposed to rain back into immediate slush or, worse, spring.

I am re-reading Kathryn M. Drennan's To Dream in the City of Sorrows (1997) for the first time since it came out and had completely forgotten the introduction by J. Michael Straczynski in which he designates it the first fully canonical novel in the Babylon 5 tie-in line. Despite the volumes of Harlan Ellison I was tracking down in used book stores and reading at the time—his credit as creative consultant was a point in the show's favor—it was not until years later that I caught since how much of his nonfiction voice had been adopted by JMS. "How difficult a task was this? Job would've packed it in, Hercules would've retired, and Orpheus would've decided that his days spent in Hades weren't really that bad."

The Post-Meridian Radio Players have now opened auditions for their spring show: Jeeves & Wooster: Hijinks and Shenanigans. I am seriously considering throwing myself on a slot for the genderswapped adaptation. It would be something of an exercise if I went for it; most of my performance skills do not translate into straight acting and I am frankly missing the facility with accents specified in the sides or I'd be able to code-switch out of being asked all the time where mine's really from. I would have to hope I was not just wasting the creative team's time. But even if it's just the hangover from Arisia, I have not auditioned for anything since 2019 and so long as I could decouple the experience from actually landing a part, it suddenly looked as though it might be fun.

Indeed, I had never heard of hickory oil. I am not however thrilled by the prospect of trading off maple syrup.

Current Music: Dry Cleaning, "Hit My Head All Day"

earthobservatory_iod_feed

Posted by Kathryn Hansen

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/north-americas-greenhouse-hub/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1192350

July 2015

September 2025

A satellite image from 2015 shows the towns of Leamington and Kingsville along the north shore of Lake Erie in southern Ontario. The surrounding land is divided into rectangular farm fields that appear in shades of green and brown. Light gray and blue greenhouse roofs cover some of the land, mostly between the two towns.

A satellite image from 2025 shows the towns of Leamington and Kingsville along the north shore of Lake Erie in southern Ontario. The surrounding land is divided into rectangular farm fields that appear in shades of green and brown. Light gray and blue greenhouse roofs, many more than in 2025, cover some of the land, filling in much of the area between the two towns and extending north from Leamington.

July 2015

September 2025

Before and After

The southernmost extent of mainland Canada, along the northern shore of Lake Erie, lies at about the same latitude as Des Moines, Iowa. Though not a “breadbasket” like the grain-producing machine that is the U.S. Midwest, this part of southwestern Ontario holds its own as an agricultural powerhouse. In the Leamington area, growers cultivate vegetables and other crops within millions of square feet of greenhouse space.

Commercial greenhouse operations began to gain a foothold in this area in the 1960s and 1970s as technology advanced and regional demand for fresh vegetables increased. Since then, the industry has continued to grow, securing Leamington’s reputation as the “greenhouse capital of North America.”

The growth in greenhouse extent in the past decade alone is apparent in satellite imagery. These images, acquired with the OLI (Operational Land Imager) on Landsat 8, show how the Leamington area changed between July 2015 (left) and September 2025 (right). By 2025, many more light-colored greenhouse roofs are visible, especially to the north and west of the town.

Greenhouses occupy nearly 8 square kilometers (2,000 acres) in the Leamington area, according to the municipality, representing the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America. The facilities primarily produce vegetables such as tomatoes, seedless cucumbers, and peppers, in addition to other crops including strawberries and cannabis.

The industry has changed not only the appearance of the daytime landscape but also the nighttime sky. Supplemental LED lighting, used to sustain growing operations year-round, emits purple, orange, and yellow glows that have been spotted as far away as Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) away, according to news reports.

A photo taken at night from above ground level shows rectangular farm fields beneath a sky that is glowing yellow. Two very bright areas on the horizon are emitting beams of light toward the sky. Other, much smaller white dots of light are scattered across the land.

November 14, 2020

Light pollution around Leamington concerns some ecologists because of its proximity to Point Pelee, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the southeast. This dagger-shaped piece of land jutting into Lake Erie lies along migration routes for many birds, as well as monarch butterflies. These winged travelers congregate on the peninsula before or after crossing the lake, and artificial light at night can affect their ability to navigate.

Recent measures around Leamington, however, have cut down on light pollution, according to reports. A town bylaw passed in 2022 requires greenhouses using lights to install light-blocking wall and ceiling curtains and to close them at night. Researchers from the University of Guelph collected sky brightness measurements in the region between fall 2022 and spring 2023. They found that the curtains were effective when used properly, though factors like cloud cover, fog, and the Moon’s phase still had a significant impact on brightness levels.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Photo by Rob L’Ecuyer. Story by Lindsey Doermann.

References & Resources

CBC (2018, November 29) It’s not the northern lights — it’s a borealis of greenhouse glows. Accessed October 23, 2025.
Ecoation (2023, June 7) The Evolution of Greenhouses in the Leamington Area, Ontario: A Historical Perspective. Accessed October 23, 2025.
Lubitz, W., et al. (2023) Comparative Assessment of Winter Night Sky Brightness in Southwestern Ontario. In: Ting, D.SK., Vasel-Be-Hagh, A. (eds) Engineering to Adapt. TELAC 2023. Springer Proceedings in Energy. Springer, Cham.
Municipality of Leamington Key Industries. Accessed October 23, 2025.
NASA Earth Observatory (2017, December 27) Observing Changes in Nighttime Lights. Accessed October 23, 2025.
Parks Canada (2025, October 23) Point Pelee National Park. Accessed October 23, 2025.
Planet Detroit (2024, February 8) Canadian greenhouses still shining but new laws have curbed Detroit’s midnight sun. Accessed October 23, 2025.
Windsor Star (2024, February 2) Leamington greenhouse light bylaw can’t deliver ‘complete darkness’ — mayor. Accessed October 23, 2025.

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The post North America’s Greenhouse Hub appeared first on NASA Science.

https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/north-americas-greenhouse-hub/

https://science.nasa.gov/?p=1192350

ranunculus

Mark O. came up today to "help". He has been one of my deer hunters for 25 years and is a really nice guy who is very helpful indeed. At random I chose to work on the tree below the garden. Back in July of 25 several of us cut down a really big blue oak that had been mutilated by PG&E tree crews. We got the tree on the ground and just left it there. A few weeks later I spent a couple of hours cutting off some of the smaller limbs and chopping up some firewood. It barely made a dent. Today Mark piled brush and loaded rounds into the Gator while I cut. I started out using my little Stihl 250 (Belin) which works great for limbing things up but isn't powerful enough to chop up bigger diameter limbs. When the branches got to about a 1ft diameter I switched to Rosie the big 391 with a 25 inch bar. I'm always impressed with that saw's power. It just chewed through that oak like it was nothing. The saw doesn't do anything fancy it just chops down through wood in a straight line. I chopped up limbs until even Rosie was slowing down a bit. Here is Chena very unhappily sitting on the log. There was some critter hiding from her down there...( Read more... )

sorcyress

I left off Satureve, I think? lots of very late dancing, which felt very good???

So Sunday continued my pattern of very leisurely late wakeup time (Arisia is one of the only times of year I just straight up guilt-free get to run my sleep schedule the way I actually want to). I got my stuff transferred from the one room to the other, and then had just enough time to hit up the art show before my goat check shift. But first.......Mount Arisia!

On Saturday,

mindways decided to try a speed run (apparently aided by wearing his very speedy pants) during the climb time, and managed to get the thirteen floors in a truly staggering time. I know that I'm not necessarily in nearly as good shape as him, was not wearing speedy pants (in fact, at that point I was wearing a lovely-but-heavy suede skirt), and critically, am quite a bit shorter. I didn't run it. I just decided "okay, if I was going to walk up these stairs like I meant it, what would I score?"

I was not quite a minute slower, but I am _very happy_ with my 2:15 ascension. A bit over ten seconds per floor when *not* running? Yeah, I'll definitely take that, and if we're in the same hotel in 2028, I think I'll have to at least try and beat that. I don't know if I have the stamina to full run up the whole thing, but gosh, wouldn't it be fun to try?

Having not made it up to the art show earlier, I had the vague disappointment of seeing several pieces I would consider buying, if they hadn't already sold. I think that's perfect in some ways, because it meant I got to admire them, and feel happy the artist is being paid, but not have to spend the money myself. It also meant I had a little more buffer to buy needless pretties in the dealer's hall instead, which I'm honestly quite happy about. (shockingly, I did resist the EXTREMELY LARGE d20s. Like, a size for putting on the desk and pondering. And _gorgeous_ too, too often the big ones are just kinda chintzy.)

Goat check was nice, then off to check my texts and send massive congratudolances to Tuesday upon hearing that The Providence Bureau of Invest-Egg-Ations, after placing second the last two years, has won the 2026 Mystery Hunt! Am I gonna get to see this particular sweetie ever in the upcoming year? Probably not, but I'm real happy for them regardless!

I wandered a bit and dealers halled a bit and eventually wound up eating food and hanging out with mom in their room until it was time for us to head to the masquerade. Mom always works as the backstage pirate, and I often work with them. It was...fine. Mom was lovely and the costumers were lovely and Antonia is an absolute bangup MC, and I don't think the audience could tell any of the particularly rough spots (except of course that the judges took forever, because they always do.)

Post Masque I did some lobbyconning. jere7my and I went and got Toast, and then eventually Tuesday showed up and they and I went to get more Toast. I am very pleased that by my last round of the evening, they had more cookie butter, so I could get my favourite combination.

Tues and I wandered a bit, including playing Lost Cities in person, where I did about as badly as I have ever played --I scored a total of one point. Just _brutally_ unlucky with the cards! Tuesday had like, 150 points to make up for it.

Off to bed went we, and that was that.

Monday morn was going to start lazy, but when I checked my phone, I saw a somewhat urgent message from LB saying that they'll were feeling sick and could I put a sign on their table until they could figure out how to get their supplies back. I sailed downstairs to the dealers hall and blatantly ignored the "this space is not open for another forty minutes" sign entirely. I can't summon the authority of I Am Supposed To Be Here everywhere, but I _definitely_ can at sci-fi cons. Do you _know_ who I _am_? I'm the child of Greykell and Richard, this place is in my blood!

I gathered LB's things for them, and was very pleased to see their box exactly fit in my (really, Rey's) rolly crate. So that was trivial to bring home, and I'll swing it by their place later this week. It is good to be able to help my friends and community!

Tuesday and I ate breakfast and got ready for our respective tasks --I had one last goat check shift, which was incredibly slow --apparently the snow scared people out of coming for just Monday?-- and she was off to the wrapup for hunt. I helped clean up and that was that, everything else about the con was lazing about deliciously.

More photos to come later. I hope you are having a good time of things. I hope tomorrow works out well for the all of us.

~Sor
MOOP!

sonia

I saw this go by on Mastodon, and it stayed with me, so I'm reposting it from Tumblr by

nitewrighter. (First few comments are worth reading.)

Me: I don't get it. I thought I was doing a lot better than I was a few years ago. I'm like 10 times more on top of things than I used to be. How does everything feel terrible now?

The Tiny Me in OSHA-approved Hi-Vis Gear Who lives in my brain and pulls all the levers: Boss, it's the fascism. You're completely gunked up with cortisol due to the fact that your entire daily life is now underscored with a haunting awareness of the rapid erosion of your rights, dignity, and any and all social safety nets, and you're also bearing witness to the most vulnerable people immediately being persecuted. This creates a natural stress response that basically means you're going to continue having memory and organizational problems, as well as emotional imbalances.

Me: BUT I HAVE A BULLET JOURNAL AND I MEDITATE NOW.

Tiny OSHA Me: BOSS, THE FASCISM.

aurumcalendula

The Imperial Coroner Season 2

( some thoughts on episode 4 the season so far in general )

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3196/

I've had countless nights where the line never left the bottom zone of the graph, but the few moments where it's climbed all the way to the top have made up for them all.

https://xkcd.com/3196/

pauraque

letter tiles in columns drop into a lower grid to spell out words in a newspaper headline

In this daily puzzle game, the goal is to spell out the words in a newspaper headline by choosing letters to drop down from the columns above. The headline starts blank, so you have to figure it out based on possible English words, syntax, and context. (E.g. If there's a one-letter word and the possible letters you can drop are A, G, and X, well...) When you've filled in the headline you get to read a short news article from the cozy fantasy realm of Yliad, where arcane scribes study at rival magic schools. Each week's puzzles form a story arc, and the arcs gradually piece together the worldbuilding.

I saw this game linked in the Clues By Sam newsletter, and I've added it to my morning round of daily puzzles. I find it pretty easy, but word puzzles are definitely more in my wheelhouse than logic puzzles, and there's nothing wrong with a quick warm-up before your brain is fully in gear. The little stories are on the cutesy side, so, you know, don't expect epic tales of blood and sacrifice or anything. The narrative just adds some interest and flavor to your standard drop-quote puzzle. And it's queer-inclusive so that's a plus!

The Daily Spell is free to play in your browser. ✨

aurumcalendula

Any recs for live action media with both a mystery/thriller plot and a significant f/f romance (with a happy ending)?

( some stuff I've seen )

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: impressed

sonia

Run your massage therapy practice so that people aren't relieved (as well as pissed) when you stand them up.

( Nope nope nope )

When we were first discussing schedules, she offered to refer me out, which I did appreciate, except one of her referrals was someone I've already seen who wasn't a great fit for me, and the other is someone I traded with over 20 years ago who's connected with my very estranged ex. Fortunately she's way up in the hills, so I could use that as an excuse for saying she's not a good fit.

princessofgeeks

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

Current Mood: tired

kaffy_r

He Had More Than a Dream

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had grit and determination, and strength and righteous anger that he controlled in the name of peaceful progress, and pride that he wanted Black Americans to recognize and adopt for themselves. He believed in this country - god knows why, given how much hell America put Black people through, all the way from 1615 to the then-current day - and he worked like hell to make it a better one.

He risked himself and his family, with constant death threats and a firebombing at his home in 1958. He almost died after being stabbed in the same year. He risked his reputation and his legacy, surviving several arrests and jailings. He risked those who believed in him and in what he had to say, because he knew those who hated him would hate those who believed in him.

He fought for what he shouldn't have had to fight for; true understanding of what Black Americans deserve, and what White America has resolutely refused to admit was required.

He fought against nasty, petty, and powerful men like J. Edgar Hoover, who spread filth and lies about Dr. King. Why? Because he was afraid of Dr. King. He hated what Dr. King stood for, so he tried to erase the man. He wasn't the only one.

After his stabbing, Dr. King had one more decade to shake the foundations of this country, to start the Poor People's Campaign and to oppose the Vietnam War. And then White America killed him.

Who called for the assassination? Did someone pay James Earl Ray? All of that kind of misses the point. Ultimately, the real conspiracy is what people in this country have insisted on doing ever since that April morning at the Lorraine Motel.

For more than 57 years America has worked tirelessly to erase his truth. America wants everyone to remember him only as he spoke during the March on Washington, choosing to turn those powerful words into an anodyne formula they want to speed the erasure of real history. Some of them manage to listen to Dr. King's "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speech and cry tears about his unnervingly prophetic commentary.

But they don't like reading his letter from a Birmingham jail. They can't stand his anti-war stance. They loathe his pro-union beliefs, his support of poor people of all colors.

It's still White America that fears him the most; rich white Americans, anti-union white Americans, pro-capitalism white Americans, the people who understand that he had grown so much larger and more dangerous to their power than they'd thought he would be.

Let's remember him for what he was. A warrior.

And I'll try not to be part of the problem, but part of the solution, as difficult as that will be.

Current Mood: pessimistic
Current Location: the living room
Current Music: Ambient jazz

beccaelizabeth

Today I learned:
There is a unit of weight, grains, that goes into troy and imperial weights as a nice neat whole number
so you don't have to fiddle around with grams with approximations after a decimal
to try and
honestly
figure out what one Pathfinder gold piece is worth in today's gold market
(it is A Lot)(probably passed £1000)(that is so much more than it was five ten twenty years ago)

there will of course be a lot of fiddly decimals in the middle of your calculation
but
whole numbers of grains.

I feel like I learned a Key for old units
because my mum said there was a nice whole numbers one
we just didn't use it any more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grain_(unit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_weight
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avoirdupois

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems#Weight_and_mass

moon_custafer

First spray treatment for the bugs appears to have gone ok. Wrestled the cats into carriers and camped out in the building lobby for a few hours. Beatrice (the semi-feral) gave me a small scratch on the face, voided her bowels, and bellowed with rage and fear, but she and Nana were both pretty quiet in the lobby (there’s a gas fireplace, and we think they liked the warmth) and both appear to have now forgiven us (Beatrice came over for scritches a couple of minutes ago) although now I think I hear them growling and hissing at each other.

Tomorrow morning have to clear out the front closet/laundry room so someone can come clean out the ducts.

languagehat_feed

Posted by languagehat

https://languagehat.com/abandon/

https://languagehat.com/?p=19129

This is one of those situations where I idly wonder about where a common word — in this case, abandon — comes from, and fall down a rabbit hole. The OED has revised its entry relatively recently (2011); it says the verb is from Anglo-Norman and Middle French (h)abandoner, “apparently either < abandon abandon n.¹ or directly < the phrase a bandon (see abandon adv.),” so let’s check those out. The noun:

< Anglo-Norman abandun, abaundun abandonment, surrender (first half of the 13th cent. or earlier) and Middle French abandon power, jurisdiction, discretion (12th cent. in Old French (see phrases below); French abandon; also in sense ‘freedom from constraint’ (1607 in en abandon without constraint)) < a bandon (see abandon adv.).

OK, let’s see abandon adv:

< Anglo-Norman a bandun, a baundoun, a baundun, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French a bandon under (one’s) jurisdiction or control (c1176 in mettre a bandon: see note), freely, willingly (c1230 or earlier), in abundance (c1230 or earlier), unrestrainedly (late 12th cent. or earlier), completely (c1235 or earlier) < a at, to (see a- prefix⁵) + bandon bandon n. Compare to be at a person’s bandon at bandon n. 1.

Notes
With sense 1 [‘Under control or authority; at one’s disposal’] compare Anglo-Norman aver a bandun, to have in one’s jurisdiction, under one’s control (first half of the 14th cent. or earlier), Anglo-Norman and Middle French mettre a bandon, mettre a son bandon to put under one’s jurisdiction, leave to one’s mercy (c1176), to entrust (second half of the 12th cent. or earlier). With sense 2 [‘At one’s own will or discretion, without interference or restraint’] compare Middle French a son bandon at his pleasure. Compare also the phrases cited at abandon n.¹

The entry for bandon n. ‘Jurisdiction, authority, dominion, control’ hasn’t been revised since 1885, so let’s check Merriam-Webster’s verb etymology for the rest of the story:

Middle English abandounen, borrowed from Anglo-French abanduner, derivative of abandun “surrender, abandonment,” from the phrase a bandun “in one’s power, at one’s disposal,” from a “at, to” (going back to Latin ad “to”) + bandun “jurisdiction,” going back to a Gallo-Romance derivative of Old Low Franconian *bann- “summons, command” (with -d- probably from outcomes of Germanic *bandwō “sign”) — more at at entry 1, ban entry 1, banner entry 1

I confess I did not go down those final rabbit holes; I abandoned the quest, as you might say. But there’s plenty there to chew on.

https://languagehat.com/abandon/

https://languagehat.com/?p=19129

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radiant fracture

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Rubbish, Tumbling and Golden

Yet again, I’ve been injured doing laundry

Music Monday

Life, a series of memorials and signals

North America’s Greenhouse Hub

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July 28, 2015

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Earth Observatory Image of the Day

Wood

Arisia Sunday and Monday!

Link: Boss, it's the fascism

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Aurora Coolness

The Daily Spell (2025)

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Heated Rivalry rec

Questions never to put on a trauma-aware intake form

Heated Rivalry rec

Dept. of Holy Days

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Monday Update

Abandon.