Fandom Garden

[xueyangapologist]

“that fandom is so annoying” i hate to break it to you but every fandom is annoying. all of them. if you’re in a fandom you’re annoying. i’m in several fandoms i’m extra annoying. everyone on this website is annoying.

[viaalterego]

[trishacollins]

Actually, my therapist has told me this is a healthy way of processing things. Because you can get the trauma out of your head And you can write the ending you wish it had. The trusted person rescue, the catharsis of getting to kill the one who hurt you.

It's good for your brain. It's healthier than bottling it up. Fiction is where we go for emotional release. That can be true with trauma too.

[erelierraceala]

so what you're saying is

character: NO

therapist: YES

[vmures]

Adding @dear-massacre's tags because they are so true:

#this is why it's important to remember that fictional characters are fake #they have no agency. they're made up #it hurts no one to make any character go through the horrors #it is healthy and cathartic

[yeahokayillreblogthat]

yeah okay ill reblog that

[cat-the-dragon]

Also, reading works for it too. Not everyone has the drive or habits to put a character through the horrors as a coping mechanism, but reading is more accessible.

That's why censorship is bad.

(Also, humans are fully capable of repressing traumatic memories, so if you don't know WHY you feel the urge to write or read characters being put through the horrors... Do it anyway, you might remember exactly why you had that urge later on, once the fictional catharsis has helped you process the trauma enough that your brain stops repressing the memories in order to protect you.)

[fox-bright]

Swarovski can continue to fuck off.

In 2021, Swarovski (the company that makes the very sparkly crystals you see in certain jewelry, on figure-skaters' twinkliest outfits, on red carpet dresses), decided they didn't want the grubby fingers of small-time jewelers, clothing designers and costumers and crafters on their shiny beads and rhinestones anymore. They decided to limit their sales to "luxury" and couture creators, not girls who sell stuff on Etsy. The tenor of their press release on the subject was snide and insulting. Resellers (like your favorite bead shop) would no longer be allowed to carry their product; the average Jane on the street would not be able to purchase them. You could only get them if you had an authorized business agreement that bound you to very strict brand behavior. And those of us who still had good stock of the crystals would no longer be "permitted" to use the brand's name in our listings for sale.

Every bead shop and craft supply place and many, many small clothing makers--wedding shops, prom and dancing dress suppliers, the sort of salt of the Earth mom and pop time machines of shops that are the backbone of the field--scrambled to find something that could replace them. The last of the stock dwindled quickly, all of us grabbing what we could get while there was any chance of it, and then it was gone and we no longer had any access.

I was Big Pissed about it at the time. It was just so goddamn stuck-up, when wholesalers and indie jewelers had made them so much money, when some people I knew--when *I!*--had been brand-loyal for decades. But with no recourse, everyone pivoted fairly quickly, most of us to Preciosa Crystals. Those are Czech, quite sparkly, and considerably less expensive than Swarovski. The faceting method they use is different, but not worse; any differences are hardly noticeable when you're seeing them as a hundred pinpoints of light.

Well, out of nowhere, Swarovski just dropped this: https://www.harmanbeads.com/swarovski-brand-policy-update

"Effective June 1, 2026, Swarovski updated the distribution and brand usage policies introduced in 2021. Businesses may now purchase Swarovski Crystals without signing a Brand Control Agreement, and Authorized Distribution Partners may once again sell Swarovski Crystals to resellers, including bead stores and online retailers. Businesses may also use the Swarovski brand name when following Swarovski’s Proper Use Guidelines. Designers, manufacturers, artists, brands, retailers, and resellers are now eligible to purchase Swarovski Crystals through authorized distribution channels."

They want us back. A lot of the companies who could have kept a brand relationship with them also have swapped to Preciosa, over the last half-decade, in solidarity with indie creators and out of a sour awareness that it could be them, next. And it doesn't hurt that Preciosa was able to expand their line quite a bit now that everyone who wanted sparkle had no choice but to go to them.

And I'm not seeing nearly anyone who intends to return. The feeling is, "Y'all told us to fuck off! Off we fucked! And now, that's what you can do, too!" I'm seeing a lot of "How many of us did you stab in the back?" comments from the people whose money they're hoping to attract.

And personally I'm sitting over here all rubby hands, mean snickering, because they really thought they were going to be able to outclimb the people who actually provided all their profits, and now here they are, hat in hand.

[cat-the-dragon]

...

You know, French has a WORD for exactly what Swarovski is...

Verroterie.

Auto-translate would go "glass bead" on what it means. it could also be "glass jewelry". That misses the subtext on it.

If you ever see 'verroterie' in historical context, the sub-textual meaning is 'that's a scam'. It could be used for stuff like "the noblewoman got scammed, the 'huge diamond' on her tiara is actually cut glass."

It could also mean "we scammed SO MANY African tribes by pretending glass was a rare and luxurious product! That's basically the whole premise of the triangular trade!" (Actually, that's the first meaning that comes to mind for me)

Though, admittedly, it also means 'it's cheap, but it's still pretty/ there IS labor going into it, the base material just isn't rare.'

In the story here, I see Preciosa as the second option. Swarovski totally tried to pull the good old scam, though, didn't it?

[theculturedmarxist]

>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.

>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.

>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.

>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.

>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.

>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.

>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.

>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!

>Lemmings problem now solved.

>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.

>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.

>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.

>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.

>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.

>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.

[monitor-offist-deactivated20250]

fastest reblog in the west

[dduane]

Yeppers. :)

[the-original-sineater]

reblogging for study later AND to spread the info.

[them-faetale]

Seriously, get and run PiHole if you can. It changes your internet experience so much for the better. I get shocked when I visit a website when I'm someone else's network, by just how many ads the internet is flooded with now. Take back control.

[breelandwalker]

Beating The Heat On The Cheap

For all my European darlings who are suffering through this horrible heat wave, my American friends who don't always have access to air conditioning, and anyone else who needs it....

Here are some tips on how to survive the heat of summer at home when you have next to no money and only household basics to work with.

(I'd love it if readers would reblog this and add their own ideas - people need all the help they can get right now!)

Stay hydrated. This is the most important thing. You're going to sweat a LOT and your body needs that replenished as often as possible. Drink WATER as much as possible and cold is best. Soda won't cut the mustard and sports drinks may replenish your electrolytes, but they are not meant for subsistence. If you need to flavor your water to make it more palatable, do it. And I know cold tea is anathema to some, but a glass of sweet or citrusy iced tea might be just the thing to get you through.

Wear loose, breezy clothing. I know the instinct is to wear your smallest, briefest summer garments, but sometimes wearing something larger, looser, and flowy helps to cool you down. The movement of the fabric creates a little bit of a breeze to draw heat away from your skin and helps all that sweating actually cool you down.

Draw the shades. If you have curtains or blinds or window shades, cover the windows, especially on the sunny side of your home. Shading the place will help keep the heat out, at least a little.

Use fans and appliances judiciously. Keep the air moving. I know sometimes it's just blowing hot air around, but it's better than stagnating. Also if you have an exhaust fan above your stove, USE IT. Draw off some of that heat from your cooking and for the love of all things holy, try not to use the oven. (Also, if you're not using your desktop computer or gaming system, unplug it for a while - those things generate a lot of heat!)

Eat cool and light. Try to avoid making meals that are going to heat up the house. If you can, make cold meals or use the microwave instead of the stovetop or oven. If you have an outdoor grill, use that for the evening meal instead of the stove. Also, if you have a blender handy, smoothies are a great way to cool down and also get in a few servings of fruit or vegetables.

Swamp coolers are your friend. If you've got a towel, a drink cooler, a bag of ice, and a box fan, you can make a homemade swamp cooler as well. Put the towel on the floor and the drink cooler on top. Fill the cooler with ice and position the fan so that it's blowing over and around the open cooler from less than two feet away. Elevate it on a box or chair if necessary. This isn't going to cool your entire home, but it can cool a small space and provides a little relief. Just be aware that there will be some sweating from the cooler and you'll need to replace the ice after a while. (The meltwater may be good for watering the garden or doing the washing up though.)

Cold showers take the edge off of many things. At the end of the day, take a shower that's a few degrees cooler than body temperature. Even if you don't do a full scrub or wash your hair, get in and sluice down, or use a pitcher of room-temperature water to give yourself a rinse. This helps your whole body cool down, cleans off the sweat of the day so you don't get breakouts, and helps you sleep cooler and less sticky. (Also, try sleeping under the duvet cover without the duvet inside to stay cooler at bedtime. And definitely have a fan in the bedroom.)

Make some homemade cold spray. This is something I used to make for camping trips. In a spray bottle, combine tap water and aloe gel in about equal measure. Then, if you have it, add 2-3 drops of peppermint essential oil. Shake to combine. You can store the bottle in the fridge when you're at home or tuck it into your bag if you're out and about. A few spritzes on the chest or the back of the neck helps immensely. (Don't spray it on your face or near your eyes. If you have any allergy or sensitivity to peppermint, leave the essential oil out.)

Keep reusable ice packs in the freezer. These can be a lifesaver. They're a quick way to cool down during the day, by cuddling or leaning against while sitting. If you can't find ice packs, fill a freezer bag 3/4 full of ice water with half a cup of rubbing alcohol, squeeze out the air before closing, and reinforce the seams and edges with duct tape. In an emergency when nothing else is working, or if someone starts to overheat, take an ice pack and put it under the arm. There's a whole host of major circulatory vessels in that area and it's a fast way to bring down body temp if someone's in trouble or while you're waiting for emergency services.

Please feel free to add your own tips and stay safe out there!

[breelandwalker]

Wanted to bring this back to co-sign the people in the notes who are recommending laying in front of a box fan with a damp hand towel slung across your bare torso as a method for cooling down. The breeze turns the towel into a heat sink and we all know how towels take forever to dry. This works SO well and it has saved my sanity more than once.

Rechargeable tabletop fans are another gamechanger and I did not know about them when I originally made this post. There are USB-chargeable models that can clip anywhere or sit on a surface and many have something like a 12 to 24hr (or longer) battery life depending on usage. Some models also include lights and power packs you can charge devices from, and having that portability is a LIFESAVER if there's a power outage in your area.

Speaking of portability, backup power packs in general are a good idea, especially if you aren't in a situation where you can have a portable generator. There are standard USB-chargeable models and slightly more expensive ones made for camping that have solar charging capability. They might not keep large systems going, but you can keep devices charged and keep that all-important outside communication intact.

[cat-the-dragon]

If anyone feels adventurous enough to mix it themselves, there is the high freeze-point cooling pack:

These freeze (turn to their solid state) at fridge temperature. Physics say that a material slowly turning back into liquid stores more cold (technically, need to steal more heat, don't come after me, science tumblr) than a cold liquid heating up.

So they stay cool (not fully cold) longer.

They also are warm enough not to cause you harm if you put them directly on your skin, unlike normal ice.

My other tip:

wet T-shirt!

Alright. not wet. Damp.

The process goes:

take T-shirt.

fold in half the other way (not on the seam line, you want to fold on the middle of the front and the middle of the back. The sleeves will flop out

locate the shoulder seam on the collar and place a hand there while holding the folded T-shirt up in your other hand, more or less where the tag on the back is, and close the hand on all the fabric.

from there, you have most of the T-shirt on one side of your grabbing hand, and a triangle on the other side.

run the triangle part under the tap until the fabric is wet.

wring it once to remove excess water, shake out, fold again some other way and wring again so the dry fabric can absorb some of the excess moisture.

put shirt on.

your neck, shoulder and upper back now have damp fabric on them, and will feel cooler.

Whenever your shirt dries all the way and you feel to hot, you just repeat the first few steps.

It's not very different from just sweating to cool down, but you're not using your own water and electrolytes for it. Also, since it is just water, the damp part will not stink of sweat.

You can also use the same trick with some sort of shawl. Dampen it and place it over your shoulder. This is better for outside of the home because you don't need to strip down to re-dampen it.

Just wring it out good, don't put dripping wet fabric on you, you do not want to catch a cold in summer.

I also like to put my head under a tap when it's really hot. Because if my hair is wet, it will keep my head cool.

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

*takes the hand of a period drama writer gently* A queen consort is not a queen regnant. A dowager queen is not a queen regnant either.

There is very little intrinsic institutional power in queenship. The power a consort, dowager, or queen mother has depends mostly on how much the reigning sovereign (usually a man) is willing to grant her. Needing a queen to serve as regent is exceptionally rare, and the regent is more often a male relative.

I know this is a bit of a bummer. I'm sorry.

[kaiserin-erzsebet]

For clarity:

Queen regnant: woman who rules in her own right, not on behalf of someone else.

Regent: Someone who temporarily assumes the powers of the monarch on account of the monarch being too young or too incapacitated to govern.

Queen consort: Woman who is married to the monarch.

Dowager queen: Woman who was married to the monarch. The monarch is dead, and she is owed support as his widow.

Queen mother: Woman who is the mother of the monarch. Usually the dowager queen, though there are exceptions if there isn't a straight line of succession.

[cat-the-dragon]

*Looking at the comment section*

SO!!!

(the reading comprehension curse strikes again, I see.)

Period drama implies that the story, no matter how fictional, is supposed to be believable in the context of the time period it's masquerading as. (Or actually depicting, if we're going with 'dramatisation of historic events') If your counter-argument is "but DRAGONS!" Nope! Dragons do immediately disqualify a story from being historical drama. Because dragons weren't around in the past anymore than they are now. If your story has dragons in it, it's fantasy. Yes, you can go nuts with whatever the hell you want, the setting is not, in fact, grounded in reality. Our historical truth do not need to impact the story at all. Glad we had this talk. Just don't label the resulting story 'historical' anything and you're golden.

NOW! for actual historical drama: Just because regnant queens were exceptionally rare does not mean none can happen, at all, ever. It just means that: if you're actually trying to be historically accurate, you will need to find an actual regnant queen in actual history to hold the title of the regnant queen. If you are aiming for the 'very, very low fantasy' tier of historical drama? Whoever that regnant queen is? -She killed people to get there. A lot of them. And made a ton of enemies. She made dirty deals. -She seduced her corresponding king very, very thoroughly and manipulated a lot of people in a lot of different ways to be handed the power. -She is VERY exceptional. She has charisma up the wazoo. The small folk love her, she might be a political or strategic genius and she has a combination of incredible competence and unwavering spirit that let her never give up on her lofty goal.

I mean it sincerely.

A good grounding on how HARD it was for a Queen to gain power means that her storyline can be that much more compelling.

Like, sure! Give me the thirty years-old queen with a five years old son who is fighting with all her might to be the regent because she KNOWS everyone else will only want to make him into a convenient puppet monarch! Make her poison someone! Make her plot! Make her let her brother-in-law believe that she'll marry him if he secures her son's powerbase then stab that same brother-in-law in the back!

Just don't make it an easy, automatic process.

[kawuli]

random PSA, I know a lot of people use duckduckgo as a Google alternative search engine, but it always kind of annoyed me when I was using it because it felt like No Name Brand Google

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

also private, European based, least annoying search I've used lately (RIP old "don't be evil" Google)

[yomikoreadsbooks]

Keeping a list of Google alternatives just in case…

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

i have one of those, scraped from multiple different rec posts:

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.https://cosine.club/ is an electronic music similarity search engine

[cat-the-dragon]

currently watching a video on Dutch minimalism and the youtuber went 'Dutch use debit card over credit cards, so if they're buying stuff from internet, they take it straight from their banking account to buy it, most of the time'

And my French ass went "what? like that's special?"

Of course you'd buy stuff with the money you do have?

Culture clashes are weird.

Though maybe it's not cultural because 'you can pay later' has become a trendy argument in french adds too... And it ALWAYS irks me. If you do not have the money to buy the trendy, frivolous thing now, you simply can't afford it. Hiding it away in next months' budget is only adds stress into your later life!

[systlin]

But seriously, if alien PLANTS ever show up, citrus and oaks are going to be trying to breed with them IMMEDIATELY. 

We make fun of ourselves for being willing to fuck aliens, but I guarantee you that citrus and oaks are right there with us, aggressively trying to cross-pollinate with any new and interesting conquests. 

[tygermama]

this has weird implications of the intelligent aliens are plant-based

[blueelectricangels]

“Yes, my great-grandfather is a terran bur oak. We don’t like to talk about it, it was very awkward for everyone involved. Except, presumably, the bur oak.”

[elodieunderglass]

“There were an alarming amount of whole-genome duplication events on Earth and frankly, I’m not comfortable going into it. They’re resilient as fuck, they grow in all kinds of conditions, and they have terrifying vocabulary like ‘allopolyploidy’. Do you KNOW what that IS? It’s something you don’t bring up around seedlings, that’s for…. that’s for fuckin sure.”

[cat-the-dragon]

...

I AM GROOT

[cat-the-dragon]

Maybe it's because I'm chronically French, but I feel US-Americans should make use of two-choice propositions in political protests a lot more often.

What I mean.

"Listen here! Either you vote to regulate the hell out of AI; or you vote to regulate the hell out of guns. But if you do neither, you're going to speed-run lead poisoning."

Make them right-wingers fear the power they have placed into your hands by being pro-gun-violence! Threaten to use the gun violence ON THEM.

You don't have to actually shoot anyone.

You also don't have to do that threatening directly. You don't have to do it in a way that will get you arrested.

But if 'either gun access gets restricted or data centers do, or natural selection on the basis of moral decency is going to descend on some people' becomes a popular saying. An in-joke of sorts... Fear will make them do something.

And even if that something is just banning guns, at least it will have been 1 step.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

"taken" style action movie where a man searches for his wife. as he fights baddies in gunfights and hand-to-hand combat, it's slowly revealed that:

his wife hasn't been kidnapped

their marriage is not healthy or functional

this guy isn't rescuing his wife, he's hunting her down

his wife is a crime boss, those are her henchpeople he's fighting in a john-wick bloodbath

the tension builds until, drenched in blood, our protagonist steps forward for the final showdown. he pulls a manila envelope from his bullet-torn jacket and throws it at his wife's feet. he's just spent an entire trilogy biting & killing & maiming....all so he can deliver his shit wife her divorce papers

[penumbriel]

call it Taken… To Court

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

#Taken 2: Court

[back-on-my-bullsh-again]

And, for a comedic bit, I want one of the wounded/dying henchmen to just say they're a notary or something and he could have had it done in 5 minutes. And she would have known that had she bothered to get to know the people she employs.

[cat-the-dragon]

How I visualize these scenes going:

1: hero: Where Is SHE? henchman: She had more important stuff to do than see you.

2: hero: where did that bitch go???!!!

3: henchman: you do realize that if she wanted to talk to you, we wouldn't be fighting now, right? hero: well, too bad, I want to talk with her.

4: hero: tell your damn bitch of a boss that I will kill as many of her people as it takes to get to her

[systlin]

I can’t believe no one’s asked you yet, have you driven in Memphis? In my experience it’s a three part combo of huge metal slabs covering 4 foot potholes, drag racing regardless of the hour or street, and no requirements for car inspections (read: beaters broken down every 2 stoplights). And of course, the Memphis Left.

SERIOUSLY WHY IS THERE SO MUCH DRAG RACING THERE.

OutSIDE MY HOTEL AT 2 AM????? REALLY???

[cat-the-dragon]

Sometimes I get intrusive songs. Let me share! (on the road of Memphis)

[systlin]

Hello. I am considering starting up on some witchcraft, and you are one of the people I would trust to give out actual advice on it.

So far all the credible sources I read/watched said "it's deeply personal and you need to look into yourself to see what your roots are and trust your intuition" and shortly after "protect yourself first, seriously, don't skip that step!"

My intuition and personal history tells me that the sea is one of the most important things to me. And I should probably go back to Brittany where my roots are. (I was born and raised at one of the westernmost parts of France, and it has always seemed significant to me.) Or at least get somewhere more to the west and closer to the ocean.

But that would require me to put my ducks in a row first...

So question: Do you think that dunking some coton thread in salt water, drying it, then using it to sew myself an apron or something would serve as a good protective talisman to start with?

I personally would embroider in protective runes, but that's because I use runes. In your case, maybe sigils or similar? I like the idea a great deal.

[cat-the-dragon]

I mean... The Triskele IS meant to be a magical symbol, and it IS the symbol of my birth land (on top of being really pretty)

[cat-the-dragon]

Pitching my maybe-book summary for market research

Lately I have been idly tossing ideas of what I might write that could maybe work and would give me enough inspiration to bang out a whole novel-worth of words without getting constent validation and feedback as I go along.

I think I finally found something!

Jack is a single-mom's son. That mom is also a witch of some description. Except she self-taught herself in witchery with bits and bobs and has no formal teachings on the matter. She taught Jack most of the witchy things she knows how to do, and Jack was able to reproduce it.

In Jack's entire childhood, neither he nor his mom could tell if him being able to use maybe-Seiðr was a sign that his mom's witchery was a genderless kind, or if it might mean Jack was agender, or if it was something else entirely.

It probably was something else.

When he turned 18, Jack's mom told him the secret of his birth.

Unable to fully cope with it, Jack got himself enrolled in a school far the fuck away from his mom so he would be able to process the revelation without being very cruel to her in the meantime.

(This is where the story starts, and all the context here will take a while to show up. As well as his mom's big reveal, as Jack is repressing it.) (Jack's mom made a 'give you my first born child' promise to a Fae when she was a dumb teenager, fully intending to not have any children. The Fae didn't agree to her reneging on her deal, and a few years later when the mom's intent became clear, they twisted and renegotiated the deal so that her firstborn WOULD be theirs...) (Jack's other progenitor is actually the Fae his mom made a deal with as a dumb witchy-goth teen (like, think 13, she made the deal really young, even if the pregnancy only happened years later). Consent around Jack's birth is icky, but his mom did agree to have him, so long as his birth fulfilled the 'give you my child' condition and she got to raise her baby herself, and the Fae would only get the child (maybe on 21st birthday?) if the child wanted to go with them.)

Armed with not much more than his tarot cards and a crystal pendulum, Jack arrives in a whole new town he knows no-one in (but the knuckle-bones pointed him there) and decides to just let divination guide him.

Why his divination brought him to the local werewolf pack, Jack has no idea.

He is fairly sure it ISN'T the very hot young werewolf who always tries to get right up in his space to make up for his being a full head shorter than Jack.

It Probably isn't. No matter what the fairytales say, magic isn't THAT into "true love".

(And lust is NOT the same thing as true love, anyway.)

That is the general setting for the start of the Romantasy YA Queer story, thoughts?

(I have been writing for... Ao3 says 12 years. No original work, 1M words between all my fanfics on Ao3.)

(I am also living on a slim disability pension at my parent's home, so the idea of actually publishing a book I might get royalties from is attractive, even if I don't subscribe to 'your art must get you money in order to be legitimate'.)

(That said, writing this WOULD force me to do the kind of research I don't always bother with for Fanfics. Including in stuff like geography, witchcraft, tarrot-reading...)

Would you read it?

Yes, totally. And even pay to be able to do so!

If it comes with a recommandation from someone I trust.

I would, so long as it's for free

Would I get paid for that? This is important context!

I just don't read books, don't take it personally

I DO read books and I totally wouldn't read this.

I'm not the target public.

Nope

Other (put it in the tags, I'm currious)

Well, only if... (details in the comments)

Voting ended onMay 5

[prokopetz]

"I hate how American media will just make up a European nation rather than do any research, so I'm going to get back at them by writing a story set in a fake American state" like, do you have the slightest idea how much American media is set in a geographically impossible fictional small town located in no particular state and characterised entirely by some guy from Los Angeles' collection of half-remembered stereotypes about the American Midwest? They've already got the "lazily inventing fictional parts of America" bit locked down.

No, if you want to play the Uno reverse card on American media, what you need to do isn't to make up a fake state: you specifically need to wilfully misrepresent southern California.

[davai-tovarisch]

[cat-the-dragon]

...

Now, look here.

I do not know enough about Southern California to willfully misrepresent it. But I just go an idea for a book that might be publishable and that probably should be set in the US because the character background probably wouldn't work in Europe (made up or true)

Also, it's romantasy and I would probably try to launch it in English because that's the language I write in. Should I do my researsh, or do I have your blessings to just make up a whole new Town in a whole new State?

Premise

[queerautism]

Fellow white people did you know there's this cool youtube hack where you go out of your way to watch videos made by Black people. And suddenly your video recommendations will have loads of cool new channels. And then you realise youtube was literally hiding videos made by Black people from you because they assumed you wouldn't be interested

[cat-the-dragon]

It isn't so much that they assumed we wouldn't be interested. They fully assume all white people to be racist, is my take.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

Dysphoria Hoodie is so real but can we give a round of applause to Autism Hoodie?

u were always there for my autistic ass when textures were awful, the world was too bright & loud, eye contact needed to be avoided, and i didn't know what to do with my hands. u even let me use your pullstrings as a stim toy. truest ride or die bestie i'll ever know 🫶💖🫡

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

"they're the same hoodie" that is FREQUENTLY CORRECT

[xx-obliviousfantasy-xx]

IM SO GLAD WE ARE IN AGREEMENT.

The hoodie is wear in middle school and highschool because I was dysphoric also happened to be the only hoodie I could wear that day that didn't make me feel like ripping off my skin and also the only hoodie that could successfully cover my eyes to block out the florescents because they wouldn't let me wear my prescription sunglasses and when I wanted to sleep I'd just pull my arms inside and hide in it inside the library.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

sorry this addition made me so ANGRY on your behalf, remembering how schools inflict such absolutely TORTURE on students with sensory issues and health issues in general. and it all ties in to lack of childhood bodily autonomy.

it is absolutely insane the extent to which school students aren't allowed to take care of their basic bodily needs such as:

controlling their water/food intake (the fact kids have to ask permission to drink water is INSANE)

hearing protection for kids with noise sensitivity

light protection for kids with light sensitivity

(seriously what the FUCK is up with controlling kids wearing hoods/hats/sunglasses during class)

removing themselves from a hostile environment (having to ask permission even on the verge of meltdown to step out of a room/situation that is actively causing them pain)

not having every minute of their day scheduled and supervised on a level akin to literal prisoners (hint: we shouldn't be doing this to people in prison either!)

having a basic level of goddamn privacy

going to the fucking bathroom!!!

it is VILE how often school systems reject the basic human agency of their students. it causes devastating harm, and disproportionately impacts vulnerable students.

So many students are forced to experience PREVENTABLE daily pain and discomfort resulting in long-term health issues and disability because their basic needs are ignored and trampled on by adult authority. There is no world where this is an acceptable norm.

[cat-the-dragon]

With the clarity of hindsight and adulthood, I have come to the conclusion that I would have been a much happier, better protected child if I hadn't been a 'good kid'

Classroom bich pulls my hair from the row behind me? Wail like a siren, engage the waterworks and throw a tantrum until the teacher at least pretends to discipline the hecking bich. (Or me, but then I can just cry louder)

Bullied by the others all the time? I am not going to school today. I will fight it and I will try to escape at all costs, and laws won't prevent me from escaping over the fence and going to the park/public library.

I snitched on my whole class bullying me all the damn time and the most visible effect is that I was gently scolded and told to try and be accepting? Guess which student will get 0 out of 20 on every single paper until you ACT on my snitching (taking your grade hostage only works if they weren't too bad to start with though.)

I asked to go to the toilet and got told no? Well. I'm crying now. Not silently, either. I'm sobbing and hiccuping, all huddled up and cringing.

This world rewards the annoying kids over the good ones. Maybe it's time that got used for justice.

I Will Not be having children, so this isn't a lesson I'll pass down to my descendance. But if a bullied kid ever confides their woes to me? I know what I'm telling them. Be Loud and be Visibly In Distress, and don't back down until the adults finally do their damn job and attempt to apply justice.

(After all, the places were bullies don't get disciplined are also the places where the teacher can't hit you to make you stop wailing at the top of your lungs, or even grab you too roughly to take you out of the room. Maybe the victims should get to use that fact too.)