To reduce my screen time, I have weaponised my overactive and entirely impractical levels of empathy for inanimate objects. Wym you’re picking it up again? While it was sleeping? You complete and utter monster, let it rest!!
And it works. It works like a CHARM. Silly problems require silly solutions!
[ID: a phone tucked in very cozy in a perfectly fitting wooden doll-size canopy bed with floral motifs. it has a little dishtowel as a blanket /End ID]
Just in time for Valentine’s Day... 💔
Ready to break up with Google?
So are we!
We’ve rounded up a bunch of privacy-centric alternatives for everything Google.
Check out the full list over on the blog!
- The Ellipsus Team xo
Fun fact, on top of being staunchly against genAI, ellipsus literally has an Export To AO3 button. I do the majority of my writing in LibreOffice, but I've been moving all my GDocs over to ellipsus for a bit and I really love the interface. If you're looking for an alternative to GDocs, this is The One.
i've started to use ellipsus for editing my novel! having a really good outline menu on one side and tabs of related documents in the other feels a lot better and more organized than gdocs.
The study, which was published on March 31 in the journal Social Indicators Research, concludes that having an animal companion is worth up to £70,000 ($90,000) a year in life satisfaction – a metric economists use to quantify the “implicit price” of otherwise intangible things.
That figure is roughly the same as the theoretical boost in income you would get from having a spouse or meeting up with friends and relatives regularly, researchers said, comparing their findings with other studies that have used the same statistical method.
The results surprised even the researchers. “First when I obtained the values I was surprised; I was thinking that is a lot of money even for me who loves (pets),” said Adelina Gschwandtner, an economics professor at the University of Kent, who co-authored the paper.
Then, she thought, “most people claim that their pets are like friends or family members to them, so that is comparable,” she told CNN.
“If pets are indeed like friends and family, why shouldn’t that measure be comparable to talking to friends and family once a week? You have your pet every day.”
The most corrupt administration in American history wants you to look the other way from this.
We can't. We need answers. - Sen. Adam Schiff
here's the thing about the fucking tariffs. besides Unfairly Punishing Our FUCKING ALLIES YOU MORON- okay okay. anyway. the other thing
the other thing is that we have no manufacturing here
most of the fabric I buy to make my clothes is made overseas. I would actually love to buy wool from a local, unionized woolen mill! I'd be pleased as punch to do that! it's better for the environment and creates good local jobs that don't have a barrier of entry re: college degrees, which we need more of!
except we don't have any more fucking woolen mills because your billionaire ilk outsourced all of them to avoid union rules, OSHA, and paying minimum wage, when those things became commonplace and/or law. you orange fuckface
"buy American instead!!!" okay FROM FUCKING WHERE. we don't MAKE shit here anymore. and the few remaining local producers have been forced to charge exorbitant prices because they're competing with cheap unethical labor practices from big companies, so most people can't afford to buy local
god it's all so fucking stupid and I have to suffer for other people's idiocy that I actively tried to prevent
That’s the real problem whenever anyone talks about how manufacturing jobs “went away.” No, they were sent away and no one ever talks about taking measures against the bosses and owners and companies who sent them in order to make a few bucks more.
This is how Splinter describes Donnie and Mikey respectively.
Summary: January 28, 1977 When April O'Neil bought the building where she had spent her early childhood, she knew it was going to be a challenge fixing it up... but she never imagined that challenge would involve uncovering both evidence of the old owner's Cold War paranoia and a group of unusual "tenants" living twenty feet below her new property.
Author: @whispering-about-the-tmnt
For all my witches out there, here’s a handy list of the 2025 dates for the solstices, some commonly-referenced holidays, full and new moons, and special astronomical events. I’ve listed my sources at the bottom.
Dates and times for all events are calculated for Eastern Standard Time, USA, Northern Hemisphere. Adjust for your location as needed and check the DarkSky Placefinder to see what special events will be visible in your area.
On a related note, readers are encouraged to create their own seasonal calendars, holidays, and observances based on your local biome and personal preferences. Enjoy!
Solstices, Harvests, Quarter Days, Some Common Dates
Full Moons
* The full moons in September and October are almost EXACTLY equidistant from the Autumn Equinox this year, so whether you'll have a Harvest Moon in September or October depends on where you live!
New Moons
Special Celestial Events
(Check the DarkSky Placefinder to see what will be visible in your area!)
Mercury Retrogrades (in case you need them)
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
Moon Info - Full Moon Dates for 2025
Calendar-12 - 2025 Moon Phases
Full Moonology - 2025 Full Moon Calendar
AstroStyle - All the 2025 Full Moons
Your Zodiac Sign - Astrology Calendar 2025
Old Farmer’s Almanac - Mercury Retrograde Dates 2024-2025
Sea and Sky - Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events 2025
DarkSky International - Dark Sky Placefinder for Stargazing
Image Source - How Stuff Works
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If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar, tune in to my podcast Hex Positive, or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊
There’s a marked tradition of cleaning and airing out the house in the springtime when the weather warms. As you’re dusting and tidying and getting rid of winter stagnation, take some time to do the same with your craft.
Clean and organize your workspace. If you have an altar space or a shelf where you keep bottles and jars and the like, remove everything from the surface and give it a good dusting. Take the opportunity to rearrange things or swap out pieces if it suits you. If you have ritual tools that don’t often get cleaned, check them for signs or rust or wear and give them a bit of love. Repair things that need fixing, if you can. If you have an iron cauldron that you use for fire magic, get a wire brush or some steel wool and gently remove any burnt residue left inside.
Sort through your supplies. If you have lots of candles and crystals and small items laying about, consider getting some small totes or craft organizers to keep things tidy. Divided storage boxes for beads or scrapbooking supplies are great for small items, and shoebox-sized caddies are perfect for taper, chime, and votive candles. Organizing things will make your space easier to navigate and also gives you a proper idea of what you have on hand. Which might help you resist impulse purchases the next time you’re out shopping for witchcraft supplies. While you’re tidying, be sure to discard any rubbish, candle stubs, wax blobs, herb scraps, bits of string, incense bases, and so forth that might be cluttering up the place.
Discard things that are too old or worn to be useful. Dried plants and seasonings can usually be kept for 1-3 years if they remain in sealed containers. If they have no scent anymore or smell musty or mildewy, discard them and sanitize the container. If you’re using supermarket spices, you can use the expiration date on the container as a guide. Powdered material will likely last longer than whole herbs or cut-and-sifted material. One helpful tip is to put a purchase date on packets or bags of herbs when you buy them, or to put a little date sticker on your jars of herbs when you refill them. (Anyone who’s worked in food service will probably be familiar with the concept of container dating or day-dotting.)
If you make oils or tinctures or suchlike in your practice, check on these as well. Make sure nothing has gone off or lost its’ potency. Day-dotting your potion containers will help with this as well. A simple sticker with the name of the brew and the date it was bottled will help you keep track of your supplies and know when something needs to be tossed and replaced. (You can also print labels with the ingredients and purpose of the brew if you’re feeling super organized.)
Reorganize your books and resources. Review what's there and see if there are any materials that need to be weeded out, donated, or discarded. Remember that as you grow and progress, some things will become obsolete or may show themselves to be unhelpful or inaccurate. It's okay to remove things from your resource library that no longer serve you if you want to make some space on the shelves.
You can also cleanse your workspace and/or components while you’re tidying if you wish. It doesn’t have to be a full clean-slate-everything-must-go cleansing, but it can be helpful to just clear out stagnation or bring in some freshness and vitality.
Want more witchcraft exercises? Check out the masterpost here and visit my shop for spell kits, books, magical powders, and more!
(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar, tune in to my monthly show Hex Positive on your favorite podcast app, or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)
Giggling insanely over “Stay fresh, cheese bags!”
I feel like the cyberpunk series Max Headroom was ahead of its time and also too radical for network TV.. it heavily satirized it and the country that produces it.. A shame lots of people probably don't remember that!
Remembering Max Headroom as either just a talking head shill for Coca Cola or as a hacking prank someone pulled on a television station is a damned shame...
Max Headroom was the first vtuber if you think about it
What a true masterpiece of practical effects, putting Matt Frewer under heavy prosthetic makeup, a fiberglass suit and special contact lenses that strained Matt's eyes like hell, hence why Max wears shades sometimes.
tbh I really dislike how aphobia tends to be discussed whenever there's some kind of incident that makes it visible to general society. The most common response seems to be some variation of "why would anyone hate asexual/aromantic people, they aren't even doing anything" and it just always sits wrong with me. It paints such a passive picture of our existence and feels like a comment influenced by the level of invisibility that aspec people have in society. Why would you be annoyed by someone who is practically invisible? Just go back to ignoring their existence, it's easy!
But despite the invisibility, aspec people are actually doing quite a lot of things that will piss off queerphobic, right-wing and religious people (and hell, even left-wing people). And the most obvious point is that we are actively not performing heterosexuality the way they want us to. People who's entire world view is "cis men and women should be in monogamous, heterosexual marriage and have (white) babies" are not going to lean back and say "oh but those asexuals and aromantics are fine". They will also hate our guts, and they will come up with all sorts of reasons, including insinuating we're all secretly into bestiality, or mentally ill, or not human, or attention seeking children. It's just plain old queerphobia, and like all queerphobia, there's no inherent logic to it which you can worm your way out of by "not doing anything".
And like, there's a lot more that aspec people do which people hate. Raising awareness about amatonormativity? People feel attacked, they hate it. Asexual people having sex? Or not having sex? People hate it! Aromantic people being in (seemingly) romantic relationships? People fucking hate it! Aromantic people having sex? Ohh people hate that!!
I guess the existence of aphobia can be confusing when you haven't spent much time thinking about asexuality and aromanticism, but in the end, these are identities that aren't heteronormative and they will be hit with the same or similar bigotry as any other queer identity. I just get tired of this response after seeing it recycled for 10 years without ever seeming to go any further.
