Bodhrán: the Stand-on-a-Chair Comedian

A Tumblr account for a pint-sized comedian and their dumb queer jokes. Hard-of-Hearing, but a baby culturally Deaf. Find me as bow_asintakea_rawn on TikTok! (Because they don't allow fadas...) He/They

[bodhrancomedy]

New year, new trailer for my channel!

“Everything Needs a Deaf -“ a series where I shove unnecessary Deaf queer characters into your favourite shows.

“A Shakespeare Nerd in Love” I pontificate about my favourite thing, Shakespeare plays.

“Let Us Play” I talk about disabled rep in film.

“Odhrán Catton” the same as the first but just about how I desperately want to be a Doctor Who companion.

Support Bodhrán/Bodh on Ko-fi! ❤️

Become a supporter of Bodhrán/Bodh today! ❤️ Ko-fi lets you support the creators you love.

[bodhranwriting]

Choose a children's book I'm working on:

The Lightning Herders (Baby's first horror-steampunk coming-of-age story)

Mistlewoods Rest Home for Dragons (Cozy mystery)

Ector the Balloonist (Episodic adventure quest)

Flotsam House (Gothic fairy tale portal fantasy)

Shnazsnit the Astonishing (Public Enemy No.9) (Comedy crime action series)

Voting ended onJul 17

[bodhrancomedy]

So much of acting is paying money for things that don’t actually seem to work.

And waiting. Lots of waiting.

[bodhranwriting]

Choose a children's book I'm working on:

The Lightning Herders (Baby's first horror-steampunk coming-of-age story)

Mistlewoods Rest Home for Dragons (Cozy mystery)

Ector the Balloonist (Episodic adventure quest)

Flotsam House (Gothic fairy tale portal fantasy)

Shnazsnit the Astonishing (Public Enemy No.9) (Comedy crime action series)

Voting ended onJul 17

[bodhranwriting]

Choose a children's book I'm working on:

The Lightning Herders (Baby's first horror-steampunk coming-of-age story)

Mistlewoods Rest Home for Dragons (Cozy mystery)

Ector the Balloonist (Episodic adventure quest)

Flotsam House (Gothic fairy tale portal fantasy)

Shnazsnit the Astonishing (Public Enemy No.9) (Comedy crime action series)

Voting ended onJul 17

[tepkunset]

I feel like simply calling JK Rowling a transphobe isn't strong enough anymore. Like. This is not your grandpa calling you by your deadname at a restaurant kind of transphobic. This is her wanting to eradicate all trans people (with an extra special hatred towards trans women specifically). This is her trying just that by personally funding transphobic hate groups with millions to push around laws in the UK. It is not hyperbolic to call her a dangerous, genocidal maniac.

It's not about cancelling a problematic writer. It's about literally trying to save lives by denying her as much money and power as possible.

[bovid-beauty]

"Fascism"—New Federal Rule Would Require Federal Funding Recipients To Deny Trans People Exist

The rule could have heavy impacts towards trans people across society.

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

Importantly, the gender ideology prohibition has no age limitation—hospitals could be targeted not just for providing care to minors but for providing gender-affirming care to adults, because prescribing hormone therapy to a transgender patient of any age could be deemed promoting the belief that "sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic."

[junequeer]

THIS IS OPEN TO COMMENT UNTIL JULY 13, 2026

[featherandstorm]

This is all very bad and horrible, but I want to be clear that it’s worse and more sweeping than just eliminating trans research.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Please, if you only ever write one public comment, this is the one to do.

[genderkoolaid]

Bringing back this guide to writing an effective public comment. This gives you the basics you need to know, what you need to include, a basic outline you can follow, etc.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

But also, if possible, don't stop at writing a comment. Don't stop at calling your representatives. You should ideally be talking to people in your community about this and organizing resistance on-the-ground; there is a good chance people are already doing that even if you aren't hearing about it.

[cherrispryte]

Some added 101-level context from someone (me) who’s worked in federal grantmaking for 20 years and is literally certified on this document - this is a document that governs all federal grantmaking. It’s been around for over a decade and is a mega-document that combine multiple previous smaller documents that have been around for ages. It is updated every few years and generally the updates are minor - a notable change in the previous update was raising the small procurement threshold from $10,000 to $15,000 for example. Deeply dry boring minutiae that no one outside of federal grantmakers need concern themselves with. It was also federal GUIDELINES, which means there was flexibility.

This year’s is different. They are now federal REQUIREMENTS, which means there’s no flexibility. As was said previously, the 400 pages are not singularly devoted to being absolute shitheads to trans people. Theres a lot of stuff in there, some of which is the standard dry boring grants stuff, some of which is the horrible ideological warfare outlined above.

This document is issued by the OMB, the Office of Management and Budget, which is currently lead by fucking Russell Vought, the principal architect of Project 2025. This is how they’re going to implement all the horrible shit in there that wasn’t covered by Executive Order. Russell Vought is actively coming for my job, my marriage, and my kid, and most of my friends lost their jobs last year because of him. He is the fucking arch villain behind the heinous shit the current regime is doing.

So yes, please comment. You don’t have to read all 400 pages before doing so, it’s dry and dense as fuck, but I thought this information might be helpful. Also, while there is a public comment period, this isn’t voted on by Congress. The OMB just fucking issues it. Pressuring your elected officials into publicly saying “hey what the fuck are you doing here” is good, though.

[mikkeneko]

Please note the comment period is open through JULY 13th, not JUNE 13th. I saw a lot of relogs yesterday saying "last day!" and I just want to say it is very much not too late.

[grison-in-space]

As of today, 7/8/26, we have five days for public commentary on this to go through. I am begging y'all: if you care about independent science in the country that produces the most global science funding in the world, please leave a comment.

[bodhrancomedy]

I found a wee injured gull and now I’m wishing I still had a car so I didn’t have to wait for an uber to get to the emergency vet.

[bodhrancomedy]

I’ve named him Aiken Drum because that’s a wee Scottish bastard who doesn’t die.

[bodhrancomedy]

Unfortunately, wee Aiken Drum had an open fracture of the leg so the only real option was euthanasia. At least it was better than letting him die in the street, I guess.

But I’m pretty upset about it now. He was so wee.

[bodhrancomedy]

I found a wee injured gull and now I’m wishing I still had a car so I didn’t have to wait for an uber to get to the emergency vet.

[bodhrancomedy]

I’ve named him Aiken Drum because that’s a wee Scottish bastard who doesn’t die.

[bodhrancomedy]

I found a wee injured gull and now I’m wishing I still had a car so I didn’t have to wait for an uber to get to the emergency vet.

[jellyfishforest135]

Rest in peace Sam Neill. Thank you for the awe and wonder you brought to us.

[bodhrancomedy]

Felt cute.

[larimar]

Rest in peace Sam 🕊️ 1947-2026

[owlet]

you need to get it out of your mind that psychosomatic illness is just “making up symptoms” when it’s actually much more like your body is being actively poisoned by chemicals released from your brain

[owlet]

if you’re so stressed that you’re puking your guts up every morning, are unable to eat or keep anything down, you can’t look at light without feeling infinitely worse and feel exhausted and in pain all the time (or whatever your particular stress induced symptom set is) you’re not just feeling like that because you’ve willed it into being. your body is begging for relief from the constant barrage of stress hormones and it requires the fundamental source of stress to go away, not just distracting yourself from the symptoms

just because the root is psychological doesn’t mean the result isn’t an entirely physical process.

[headspace-hotel]

This and also "your body is desperately trying to alert you to the fact that stress is killing you"

[katherynefromphilly]

Doctor, looking at my neck x-ray: “The muscles of your neck are in such spasm right now that your spine has lost its curve. No wonder you’re in such pain. What the heck did you do to yourself?”

Me: “I work on a computer all day.”

Doctor: “Ah. That will do it. Right, so here’s a script for anti-inflammatories and a muscle relaxer. Also try hot and cold on it, 15 minutes each, and then gentle movements between each round. You’ll feel better in about a week.”

Me: “In a week I’m still going to need to work on the computer.”

Doctor: “And here’s also a script for 6 months of Physical Therapy.”

Me: “In 6 months I’m still going to need to work at a computer.”

Doctor: “And take breaks and do stretches between meetings?”

Me: “They book me in back to back meetings where I work. I eat lunch at my computer. I have to excuse myself to go pee.”

Doctor: “…”

Me: “…”

Doctor: “Um… it sounds like this job is actually, literally, killing you? Can you possibly work someplace else?” *

———

*note: It wasn’t said as flippant advice, and the doctor was 100%. right. After I got a different job — which took a WHILE — it was in a different corporate culture, one that didn’t believe in filling the day with meetings. I was able to do the stretches I was supposed to do, and also walk at lunch, and my neck is much better now. Not everyone has this choice. But maybe, if your job is killing you too, start thinking about an escape plan. Your body will eventually turn you into a pretzel otherwise. Nothing psychosomatic about that.

[bodhranwriting]

Fifteen fun facts about Taiyeks, my not-human species in my steampunk fantasy trilogy!

Full Taiyeks universally have bone stubs protruding from their shoulder blades.

Both full and half Taiyeks have reflective eyes like cats and better eyesight in darkness.

There is a scene where a Taiyek MC surprises another unwary MC while scavenging for a midnight snack when she turns to just see a pair of glowing eyes.

Traditionally, Taiyeks believe themselves to be angel-like beings cast out of the heavens and thus have a lot of bird and sky symbolism/terminology.

They are both a people and a religion.

There are three main ‘branches’: the Fallen, the Anointed, and the Rationals. Obviously these are their own names, not what the other branches call each other.

Fallen are the largest branch, tending towards nomadic lifestyles either at sea or in the sky. Pride themselves on being able to collaborate with other species. They believe that they were cast out of the skies when their Gods died and thus are atoning for their past failures by building new worlds. Most diverse in beliefs and practices.

The Anointed are more fundamental and tend to live in cloistered communities. They believe the Gods are merely trapped and one day they will lead a holy army back into the sky to save them.

The Rationals are the newest and youngest branch. These Taiyeks reject the notion they’re descended from the skies and argue that they may be a sibling-species to humans linked to catastrophic arcane climate changes in history.

Arcana is a natural resource that can be harvested from the sky. Taiyeks are the only species which are allergic to it.

Since this world’s version of an Industrial Revolution involved essentially harnessing and running everything on the stuff, Taiyeks have been further pushed to the margins.

They have on average six official genders and don’t choose one until their coming-of-age ceremony. Each is represented by a different colour.

They have high percentages of being intersexuality, deafness, and blindness so these are far more accepted and accommodated in their societies.

They are universally cremated at death as it returns them to the sky.

Their funeral colours are blue; birth is pink, youth is yellow, elderly is purple, and weddings are in black and traditionally stitched with constellations.

Would you like:

More facts about Taiyeks

Fifteen fun facts about phoenixes

Fifteen fun facts about dragons

Voting ended onJan 20

[bodhranwriting]

MORE FACTS ABOUT TAIYEKS!

Taiyeks value music and dancing extremely highly both as in social settings and religious ceremonies.

To the the point they have incredibly specific songs and poems for life events and situations including a lullaby for recently adopted/found babies.

A Taiyek funeral is a full celebratory wake/ceilidh for the first day, openly grieving is only acceptable the day after.

This is because the spirit is thought to linger only long enough to see if they’re still ‘needed’ so the party is to reassure them that they’re free to leave.

Due to a long history of marginalisation and active persecution, Fallen Taiyeks tend to not grow up with their immediate family due to various historical acts of separation and so have many words for types of family ties.

They also have a reputation for adopting abandoned and lost people (particularly babies and children, but extends all the way to the elderly) because looking after the weaker is vital to their culture.

In comparison, the Anointed are far more insular and interested in marriage within their own groups.

Taiyeks have an internal language called Taiyeku which consists of both verbal and signed aspects.

Taiyeks are essentially immune to poison. Belladonna and arsenic have been used as spices in their cooking.

This means they cannot get drunk on normal alcohol or (reportedly) be sedated.

They invented their own alcohol anyway. It is fatal to humans, and possibly to phoenixes as well.

Any questions? 👀

[bodhrancomedy]

I love doing shift work. I love finishing at 10:20pm to be back in work for 9:20am the next morning.

[bodhranwriting]

Fifteen fun facts about Taiyeks, my not-human species in my steampunk fantasy trilogy!

Full Taiyeks universally have bone stubs protruding from their shoulder blades.

Both full and half Taiyeks have reflective eyes like cats and better eyesight in darkness.

There is a scene where a Taiyek MC surprises another unwary MC while scavenging for a midnight snack when she turns to just see a pair of glowing eyes.

Traditionally, Taiyeks believe themselves to be angel-like beings cast out of the heavens and thus have a lot of bird and sky symbolism/terminology.

They are both a people and a religion.

There are three main ‘branches’: the Fallen, the Anointed, and the Rationals. Obviously these are their own names, not what the other branches call each other.

Fallen are the largest branch, tending towards nomadic lifestyles either at sea or in the sky. Pride themselves on being able to collaborate with other species. They believe that they were cast out of the skies when their Gods died and thus are atoning for their past failures by building new worlds. Most diverse in beliefs and practices.

The Anointed are more fundamental and tend to live in cloistered communities. They believe the Gods are merely trapped and one day they will lead a holy army back into the sky to save them.

The Rationals are the newest and youngest branch. These Taiyeks reject the notion they’re descended from the skies and argue that they may be a sibling-species to humans linked to catastrophic arcane climate changes in history.

Arcana is a natural resource that can be harvested from the sky. Taiyeks are the only species which are allergic to it.

Since this world’s version of an Industrial Revolution involved essentially harnessing and running everything on the stuff, Taiyeks have been further pushed to the margins.

They have on average six official genders and don’t choose one until their coming-of-age ceremony. Each is represented by a different colour.

They have high percentages of being intersexuality, deafness, and blindness so these are far more accepted and accommodated in their societies.

They are universally cremated at death as it returns them to the sky.

Their funeral colours are blue; birth is pink, youth is yellow, elderly is purple, and weddings are in black and traditionally stitched with constellations.

Would you like:

More facts about Taiyeks

Fifteen fun facts about phoenixes

Fifteen fun facts about dragons

Voting ended onJan 20

[bodhranwriting]

MORE FACTS ABOUT TAIYEKS!

Taiyeks value music and dancing extremely highly both as in social settings and religious ceremonies.

To the the point they have incredibly specific songs and poems for life events and situations including a lullaby for recently adopted/found babies.

A Taiyek funeral is a full celebratory wake/ceilidh for the first day, openly grieving is only acceptable the day after.

This is because the spirit is thought to linger only long enough to see if they’re still ‘needed’ so the party is to reassure them that they’re free to leave.

Due to a long history of marginalisation and active persecution, Fallen Taiyeks tend to not grow up with their immediate family due to various historical acts of separation and so have many words for types of family ties.

They also have a reputation for adopting abandoned and lost people (particularly babies and children, but extends all the way to the elderly) because looking after the weaker is vital to their culture.

In comparison, the Anointed are far more insular and interested in marriage within their own groups.

Taiyeks have an internal language called Taiyeku which consists of both verbal and signed aspects.

Taiyeks are essentially immune to poison. Belladonna and arsenic have been used as spices in their cooking.

This means they cannot get drunk on normal alcohol or (reportedly) be sedated.

They invented their own alcohol anyway. It is fatal to humans, and possibly to phoenixes as well.

Any questions? 👀