Sometimes silence is violent

personal blog for self expression and my own personal experience.

[woventree-blog]

I’m just never going to understand how anyone could read into Norse history and mythology and think: “Wow, all this stuff about racial intermarrying and being hospitable to travellers goes so well with my beliefs about keeping European blood-lines pure, I’m gonna use the symbols of my socially progressive nearly-democratic ancestors to back my obsession with tradition and fascism!”

[northern-seidmadr]

Since I had a neo-Nazi follow me today, a reminder of the stance of this blog.

[jame7t]

1 am. im throwing rocks against gods window. she opens. I tell her “you fucked up with vampires. they should be real.” she politely reinverts every atom in my body, thusly undefining me and beginning anew with a fresh physical form. im a hamster now. my opinion does not change.

[phleg-rxxn-deactivated20191102]

op are you ok

[jame7t]

im a hamster now

[imawitchywitch]

If you’re going to arm teachers in case of school shootings, then you better also arm bartenders and club workers, movie theatre employees, hotel workers and security, concert vendors and security, and all those who “could have prevented” recent mass shootings.

[imawitchywitch]

OH! I forgot! What about arming priests and workers within churches? There was a mass shooting in an African American church in recent years as well.

I am sure you can see how this could go on and on, and how ridiculous it is to arm teachers.

[wheremyscalesslither]

Your pride is not more important than your animals

If someone tells you what you are doing can be done better, you should look into it.

If multiple people are telling you, you need to look into it.

Keeping animals changes when new information is found. A good keeper understands this and changes their practices to improve.

It’s OKAY to be wrong. It happens. It’s NOT okay to continue being wrong for the sake of your ego or to prove something to others.

[dontwantthenextcommanderiwantyou]

Remember that police rode up on and instantly MURDERED 12 year old Tamir Rice because of a report of him having a "probably FAKE" gun which was in fact a toy. But they took a grown ass white supremacist into custody ALIVE knowing he just walked into a school and MASSACRED children with a very real AR-15.

LITERALLY SECONDS AFTER DRIVING UP TO TAMIR, POLICE SHOT HIM TWICE WITH NO QUESTIONS ASKED, THEN WAITED 4 MINUTES BEFORE EVEN ATTEMPTING TO ADMINISTER FIRST AID TO THIS DYING CHILD.

NOTICE THE COMFORTING HAND RUBBING HIS BACK… ENOUGH SAID.

[goaliesarethebest]

When they were talking about Tamir they continuously called him a man even though he was only 12 years-old; whereas they’ve referred to this 19 year-old mass murderer as a child, over and over, that’s racism

[piccolina-mina]

How about four armed police officers stood outside hiding while a kid massacred students and teachers instead of doing anything about it. But police officers literally rolled up shooting at Tamir for holding a toy at a playground.

[thebibliosphere]

Logging in to facebook today has been a lesson in finding out which members of your friends and family care more about imagined threats to their personal liberties, than the actual threat of gunmen walking into schools and murdering children.

And before any of y’all attempt to start shit, I’m not in the fucking mood to spoon feed you common sense and decency today, so don’t. 

I grew up in a country with gun control. It was a measure put into place a year after a man armed with two pistols and two revolvers walked in to a village primary school much like my own, and murdered 15 children all under the age of ten at point blank range before eventually turning the gun on himself. It was a national tragedy, the likes of which has not been repeated since 1996 in UK because we had immediate and effective gun control. So yes, it works.

You can argue with me all you fucking like about how “criminals will always get their hands on weapons” but here’s the thing I can also tell you from experience, cause yea, I also grew up in an area rife with crime and murder too (Glasgow, the only city to be voted both the friendliest and the murder capitol of Europe, within the same year. Brilliant.) most criminals? Dinnae think about walking into schools and shooting up bairns. They want weapons to use against other criminals and occasionally the law enforcement. And we might still have a lot of problems involving knife crime, but it’s a lot harder to stab 20 people in under 5 minutes than it is so just walk into a room full of unarmed innocents and open fire.

So your argument that there’s no point to trying to limit access to weaponry, doesnae actually mean heehaw. It’s just your way of saying you dinnae give a shit about other people and the death of 17 children is an acceptable outcome for your sense of personal liberty. 

If you truly are a responsible gun owner, as so many people claim in their defense of owning one, then you must also acknowledge that there is a much deeper problem in America at the moment that so many people who are not, are able to get their hands on them. 

Just because you’re not actively part of the problem, isn’t enough. Not anymore. It never was.

[baetology]

In 1989, George Bush gave a speech about crack. During the speech he pulled out a bag of crack and said “this bag was seized right across the street from the White House in Lafayette park.” Turns out, his speech writers had the idea to pull out a prop during his speech and in order to make it believable they had the DEA plant crack on this random 18 year old black kid. They lured him there. He didn’t even know where the White House or Lafayette park was. When he got there, they arrested them. The plot was discovered by a journalist.

[tunte]

What journalist

[baetology]

Gary Webb

[showersofhappiness]

And then Gary Webb killed himself after he revealed that the CIA let crack infiltrate black communities through drug cartels making deals with the CIA. His wife left him and his career was ruined for exposing the drug war as a war against people of color.

[raavenreyes]

There’s a really well done movie called Kill the Messenger (x) I suggest everyone should watch. It was done in partnership with his family and details the events from beginning to end.

[monte-cristos-deactivated201804]

Do we know the name of the “random 18 year old black kid” who was framed by the United States Government for a crime he didn’t commit?

[monte-cristos-deactivated201804]

Update: His name is Keith Jackson. He has a wife and family now, and lives in the Baltimore/DC area. Unsurprisingly, he doesn’t want anything to do with what happened to him. The charges against him for the Lafayette case were dropped, but he received a 121 month sentence for distributing drugs near a school. Keith Jackson was a senior in high school when he was arrested. He was released from prison in 1998, 10 years later. We have to remember all of the time that was taken from him. We have to remember that he wasn’t just “some random 18 year old black kid.” The government chose him to become a caricature of who they wanted the “enemy” to be in the War on Drugs because he is Black. Remember Webb’s thesis. Remember Keith Jackson’s name. Remember his story.

[killakillakadafi191]

1.  Let’s stop the bullshit. 

Gary Webb didn’t kill himself he was murdered.  No way in hell do I fucking believe that Gary Webb committed suicide by shooting himself twice in the head.

2.    Rick Ross admitted that he believes Gary was murdered because they were still working on their documentary (American Drug War) while Ross was still in prison at the time.  As Ross said, “The last time I talked to Gary, he still seemed adamant about continuing with his investigation.”

3. Then 10 years after his death the CIA admits they purposely destroyed Webb career and life and still target him until his death.

I don’t believe for a second that Gary Webb shot himself twice in the head. 

He was murdered because he exposed how The CIA, the government, and Satan aka Ronald Reagan purposely flooded the black community with drugs.   

[streetfrog111171]

Is all of this true?

[killakillakadafi191]

Yes, I did a project about The War on Drugs and how conservatives tried to create another campaign for voters to get behind with The War on Gangster Rap.

That’s when I was introduce to Gary Webb work. You often see me speak on what he revealed about the Reagan Administration and how Ronald Reagan was the fucking devil that I am glad that he is rotting away in hell right now.

Gary Webb did not commit suicide by shooting himself twice in the head.

[earthshaker1217]

History has taught me that a story about a whistle blower committing suicide is a huge red flag.

When folks start spilling the tea on the government, the government’s first reaction is to silence them.

Killing them is one way. Smear campaigns are another.

Pay attention.

[thebibliosphere]

I’m wandering around Whole Foods unattended (left the bae sleeping) and there’s a person here doing a demonstration on the uses for essential oils around the home and I may have to fight them.

Just for the record, tea tree oil is toxic to dogs and cats and you should not “drop a few drops on their bed to disinfect it”. Tea tree oil is only safe for your pets when thoroughly diluted, the safety range being a dilution of 0.1 to 1%. Most tea tree oil bottles come at 100%.

You are potentially dropping liquid death onto your pets bed where it will certainly come into contact with their skin and may be ingested when they lick themselves or their bed. Also never ever orally administer tea tree oil to your pet, I dont care what that one blogger and their nice clean aesthetic said, tea tree oil is toxic to dogs and cats and you will make them sick or possibly even kill them. It should only ever be used topically but only ever at the correct dilution and after the consultation of your vet who will most certainly have a better non lethal solution for your furry friend.

Now. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to fight a Young Living sales rep. Hold my cart.

[thebibliosphere]

Their response when I quietly sidled up to them (I’m not an actual asshole who yells at people while they are doing their job) and informed them that some of the information (all of it, actually) was wrong, the sales rep looked immediately remorseful, told me they knew it was wrong, but that they had a script to follow in order to maximize sales, and that if they didn’t make their target goal they didn’t get paid.

So just in case you give a shit about ethical business practices and your pets (not to mention yourselves!): Do Not Buy Young Living Essential Oils. 

Not only do I suspect they are synthetic based (meaning myself and several others with respiratory allergies have reacted badly to them, in ways we do not react to actual pure oils which are obtained through either steam or cold press. I do not trust their “authentic” claims, and I have worked with a lot of essential oils over the last decade and a half. Also, the whole “therapeutic grade” things doesn’t actually mean shit. It’s not a standard recognized by any official regulating authority in the US, AUS, UK or other parts of Europe. Always dillute your oils with a carrier oil for topical application and for the love of god stop drinking them. You want the supplement not the essential oil, it’s a separate thing!) they also do not care that they are offering dangerous consumer advice, but are actively enforcing it. Do not buy into their pyramid scheme. Do not buy or sell from them.

I had to be That person who asked to speak to the manager of my local WH today because holy shit this, could have straight up murdered someone’s cat or caused their dog to have seizures. Their response to my concern was a befuddled “but it’s natural…” and I had to respond with “so is arsenic but I don’t see you selling it in the supplements aisle as a vital mineral”. She had to straight up think about that for a second before it clicked. 

Natural =/= safe. Be careful and educated and always double check your sources.

[thevetsaidwhat]

Keep defending the four-legged.

Many, MANY essential oils will burn a pet before they actually help them. When in doubt, call a vet before using anything that wasn’t recommended by one.

[animalsustainability]

PSA

[thedogandthewitch-deactivated20]

I have to share this quick little story about a mini adventure of mine.

Yesterday while I was out walking King we stumbled upon this awesome painted rock while we were in Oro Valley, AZ.

Now finding a painted rock is weird enough but imagine how weird I felt finding this rock was labeled too. The label on the rock read “keep or rehide, post a photo to OVRocks on facebook when found”

My first thought after reading the label was “what the heck is OVRocks?” which I then immediately hoped it was something cute or maybe a bunch of rock hounds and not a weirdo on the internet (it’s AZ we got ‘em everywhere here trust me nothing is sacred). I was really starting to wonder if this found rock was cool or creepy.

Eventually the witch in me said to press forward and stop being a baby about it haha. So I went on facebook to their page and to my amazment, it’s a whole group of people hiding these rocks, some even being hidden and found all over the US.

All of them sharing and hiding these super cute and unique painted rocks for people to stumble upon randomly and find. The whole act is just so kind and gentle. We need so much more of this in the world because I certainly know I felt nothing but pure joy when I found that rock yesterday.

Pure joy all brought on by a complete stranger’s simple little act of kindness.

This whole discovery really was amazing and I have to say life changing if I’m being honest here 🌈

1/31/2018

[north-of-annwn]

NO NO NO NO NO NO. THIS IS VANDALISM AND LITTERING. This is illegal and you will be fined for this!

The last few months I cannot go hiking throughany area of woods or parks without finding this shit. Brightly colored gawdy traces of humans in natural places. 

The paint can be toxic and runoff after it rains. Animals may not recognize them as rocks if they are brightly colored.

HUGE numbers of volunteers (like myself) are having to spend their time to clean them up and remove them.

STOP THIS. PLEASE!!!!  Our earth is beautiful as is… it does not need your fucking paint.

[talesofthestarshipregeneration]

My ’70s Health-Nut Parents Didn’t  Vaccinate Me. This Is What My Childhood Was Like.

I am the ’70s child of a health nut. I wasn’t vaccinated. I was brought up on an incredibly healthy diet: no sugar till I was 1, breastfed for over a year, organic homegrown vegetables, raw milk, no MSG, no additives, no aspartame. My mother used homeopathy, aromatherapy, osteopathy; we took daily supplements of vitamin C, echinacea, cod liver oil.I had an outdoor lifestyle; I grew up next to a farm in England’s Lake District, walked everywhere, did sports and danced twice a week, drank plenty of water. I wasn’t even allowed pop; even my fresh juice was watered down to protect my teeth, and I would’ve killed for white, shop-bought bread in my lunchbox once in a while and biscuits instead of fruit, like all the other kids.We ate (organic local) meat maybe once or twice a week, and my mother and father cooked everything from scratch—I have yet to taste a Findus crispy pancake, and oven chips (“fries,” to Americans) were reserved for those nights when Mum and Dad had friends over and we got a “treat.”As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox. In my 20s I got precancerous HPV and spent six months of my life wondering how I was going to tell my two children under the age of 7 that Mummy might have cancer before it was safely removed.So the anti-vaccine advocates’ fears of having the “natural immunity sterilized out of us” just doesn’t cut it for me. How could I, with my idyllic childhood and my amazing health food, get so freaking ill all the time? … My two vaccinated children, on the other hand, have rarely been ill, have had antibiotics maybe twice in their lives, if that. Not like their mum. I got many illnesses requiring treatment with antibiotics. I developed penicillin-resistant quinsy at age 21—you know, that old-fashioned disease that supposedly killed Queen Elizabeth I and that was almost wiped out through use of antibiotics.*

[ladymarianor]

“If you think your child’s immune system is strong enough to fight off vaccine-preventable diseases, then it’s strong enough to fight off the tiny amounts of dead or weakened pathogens present in any of the vaccines.”

[allydsgn]

jesus, take this as a warning protect yourselves please. please vaccinate!

[fjorn-the-skald]

hi, i was wondering what would be a good way to go about translating the phrase "do no harm, but take no shit" into runes? i had the idea the other day to get that as a tattoo, but if i do that i would like to try to make it as accurate as possible. thanks for your time!

Velkomin, gestur minn!(Welcome, my guest!)

For such a phrase, I will have to compose in Old Norse myself, rather than pull from an existing text, which I hope is alright with you. But here is what I can offer:

Skaða ekki, en tak ekki við skít.ᛋᚴᛅᚦᛅ:ᛁᚴᛁ:ᛁᚾ:ᛏᛅᚴ:ᛁᚴᛁ:ᚢᛁᚦ:ᛋᚴᛁᛏ

Now, a few things before moving on:

The literal translation is as follows: “Do no harm, but do not accept shit.” The verb ‘take’ means “to take,” but when used with ‘við’ (and the dative) means “to accept; receive.” I think the later usage is more suitable for the meaning intended, and so that is what I used.

The runes are Younger Fuþark, runes which date to the Viking Age. If you wanted the Elder Fuþark, which are much more popular online and what most people tend to think of when they ask for runes, you will have to see @thorraborinn.

IMPORTANT: Allow @thorraborinn to check my work before getting this as a tattoo. I may have done something incorrect. He knows Old Norse as well (better than I do), and he is also far more familiar with runes than I am. He will correct this if I have erred, or even provide an alternative if he feels that other words would serve your purpose better than the ones I have chosen. It never hurts to have someone double check things.

Otherwise, I hope this helped.

Vertu vel, vinur!(Be well, friend!)– Fjorn the Skald

[flamingswordofdoom]

this is perfect! i will definitely ask for that second opinion, but the language choice is fine and it’s what i’m looking for! i do have a question, would you be able to tell me where in the runes the break between the phrases is? thank you so much!

[thorraborinn]

Translating modern idiomatic English into a dead language is always a little precarious (not that I’ve ever let it stop me). Like, if you don’t know anything about the target language, you gotta be careful you’re saying “take no shit” and not “don’t take a shit.” Fjorn did a fine job that makes sense but I do have some notes. The phrase “to take no shit” has been loaned into modern Icelandic as “að taka engan skít.”

There are uncountable ways to translate “do no harm” and “skaða ekki” is fine although for Old Norse I’d probably say “eigi” rather than “ekki,” they did both coexist but ekki (originally ‘nothing’ rather than ‘not’) is much more characteristic of later texts and took over when eigi died out except in super formal language, and I’d rather say “skaða engan” (literally more like ‘harm nobody’) rather than either.

Though to my ears “gør(v)a engum mein” sounds more natural and like the original English, the two clauses follow a parallel structure which also just so happens to match the English word-for-word. This is how I would do it:

Gør(ðu) engum mein en tak(tu) enga(n) skít

You could also use the noun skaði and say “gørðu engum skaða en taktu enga skít.” You’d write skaða skaþa substituting your preferred runes for those letters. There isn’t a lot of difference between mein and skaða, it’s kind of a gut reaction that leads me to prefer mein but really they both work and they’re both used about as often as each other in Old Norse.

The ðu and tu are the second-person singular pronoun. It can be dropped from the verb in especially poetic contexts which is what Fjorn did though they’re there most of the time. I’d keep them but it’s up to you.

The difference between enga and engan is that the former predominates in earlier times.

There are uncountable ways to rune this but here are two pretty standard ones, one from a sort of generic or maybe even anachronistic (because these are typically Danish runeforms but mein would have been mēn in most East Norse, hence Danish/Swedish men ‘injury’) early 16-rune futhark and the other from a later one with dotted runes. For legibility you might add n runes in engum and enga which I’ve dropped in accordance with typical runic orthography. But you can switch any of these out for your own preferred ones like switch to short twig or throw in “maðr with twigs” or something (though if you have any linguistic specifications that might require a bigger change than just switching graphical qualities of the rune).

If there’s a particular time or place that’s of interest or relevance to you reply with that and I’ll see what I can come up with if there are enough exemplars from there/then. Like in Manx runes it would be short-twig kurþu.aikum.main.ain.taktu.aika.skit. This happens to avoid some diagnostic runes like ýr for /ʀ/.

By the way since this is about a tattoo I did run the translation by a native Icelandic speaker to make sure.

And yeah if you prefer elder futhark I can probably make something kind of work although that’s going even further into “translating modern English idioms into dead language” territory since there’s a lot we don’t actually know for certain about syntax from that era.

[fjorn-the-skald]

And this, my friends, is why I always recommend Thorraborinn for rune-related endeavors. His knowledge regarding Old Norse and runes is impressive and thorough!

Kærar þakkir! (Many thanks!) – Fjorn the Skald

[arrdeearr]

[blairellisorwhatever-blog]

this never gets old

[therothwoman]

I met the creator of this a month ago and he said he got a lot of hate mail from dudebros who thought that he was a woman complaining about these problems.

[smitethestate]

Gold.

Bolding mine.

[commandtower-solring-go-deactiv]

Watch the real thing. Its perfectly creepy

[naidje-deactivated]

This guy also made Night In The Woods

[spockzilla]

wow…i’d never seen the full thing before

[aquarianwisp-deactivated2025092]

Tarot cheat sheet

Major Arcana

The Fool-Beginnings, Risks The Magician- Actions, manifestations The High Priestess- Hidden knowledge, Secrets The Empress- Resources, Abundance The Emperor- Boundaries, Order The Heirophant- Education, Lessons, Unity The Lovers- Love, decisions The Chariot- Progress, determination Strength- Managing situations, endurance The Hermit- Searching, analysis The Wheel of Fortune- Fate, Luck Justice- Decisions, Balance The Hanged Man- Waiting, sacrifice Death- Transformation, Rebirth Temperance- Negotiation, common ground The Devil-Restrictions, Indulgence The Tower-Unexpected failure, breakdowns The Star- Hope and guidance The Moon- Anxiety and deep emotions The Sun- Growth, Recovery Judgement- The past, second chances The World- Success, completion

Minor Arcana

Cups- Water Element, “I feel”- How emotions rule over and work within the meanings of the cards.

Ace- Love, Beginnings Two- Partnerships Three- Celebration Four- Boredom, longing Five- Loss, sadness Six- Peace, reconciliation Seven- confusion, possibilities Eight- Departure, leaving behind Nine- A wish coming true, contentment Ten- Happiness, family Page- Opportunities, Chances Knights- Emotional and dreamy influence Queen- Intelligent and intuitive influence King- Charismatic and Wise influence

Pentacles- Earth Element, “I have”- How possessions rule over and work within the meanings of the cards.

Ace- Money, success, beginnings Two- Decisions, balancing finances Three- Showing talents, chances Four- Stability, hiding Five- Financial loss, chasing Six- Generosity, supporting Seven- Potential with work Eight- Money coming, building success Nine- Comfort, success Ten- Inheritance, something lost Page- An offer Knight- A dependable influence Queen- A genorous influence King- A prosperous influence

Swords- Air Element, “I think”- How thoughts rule over and work within the  meanings of the cards.

Ace-  Success Two- Stalemate Three- Heartbreak Four- Rest, overwhelmed Five- Conflict Six- Leaving conflict behind Seven- Theft of positivity Eight- Restriction Nine- Anxiety Ten- Endings Page- Intelligence, alertness Knight- A opposing influence Queen- An independent influence King- A strong willed influence

Wands- Fire Element, “I desire”- How desires rule over and work within the meanings of the cards.

Ace- News, beginnings, fertility Two- Making plans Three- Travel Four- Freedom, rest Five- Stong opinions, fights Six- Victory Seven- Work, effort Eight- News, attack Nine- Stress, suspicion, strength Ten- Burdened, work Page- A message, understanding Knight- A motivational influence Queen- A creative influence King- An expressive influence

[evianic]

Old gods do not mean dead gods

me (via witch-of-artemis)

[cartnsncreal]

Wonder how fast we could crowdfund it.

[zeusisblack]

Didn’t they arrest him?

[lagonegirl]

oh man. he dead… 

[sardonic-salt-mine]

His name is Edward Crawford.

[zibelstardust]

For real tho. He was hands down murdered by the police. A lot of notable figures from Ferguson were found dead in the same manner and police labeled them all suicides which ,as we all know, is complete and utter bullshit.

If we could get statues of anyone it really is Edward Crawford. If I can get in contact with a sculptor or some shit with permission from Crawford’s family I will set up the Fund Page in a heart beat.

[hoekagei]

Omg he died!?!

[blockmind]

Like they said, Edward died in a suspicious manner similar to several other notable protestors officially ruled a suicide and here’s some links:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ferguson-protester-edward-crawford-subject-iconic-photo-found-dead-n755401 http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/05/us/ferguson-iconic-photo-death-trnd/index.html

[a-social-construct]

The podcast Criminal did a really great interview with him right before his death in which he talked about his harassment by the police http://thisiscriminal.com/episode-32-it-looked-like-fire-12-11-2015/

[fuzzycricket]

Oh my god that’s heartbreaking, I don’t think I even heard about his death. Or if I did it was drowned out by all the other murders by the police. God this is heartbreaking. That photo of him made me cry when I first saw it, it was so moving. Rest In Power, Edward Crawford.

[queening-x]

Ffs

[depsidase]

[fsthhdwefg-deactivated20180515]

Sorry not sorry to say this but there are no nazis in Valhalla

[the-heathen-shame-corner]

Honestly, shame everyone who repeats some silly variant of this just to get notes. It’s lame and overdone

[paramud]

Sounds like someone’s upset that they’re not going to Valhalla