Article/essay from 2020 by Maggie Appleton. Sharing here because I've seen enough posts cross my dash that are about related topics.
I recommend reading this to anybody, but especially to those considering starting a blog outside of Tumblr (like NeoCities, anything with a web ring), those who like to think deeply about the internet in the Web 2.0 era of chronological blogs, social media silos, and enshittification.
things you can freeze
tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"
ROBOTS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS. ROBOTS THAT NEED TO STAY HOOKED INTO THE GRID OR RLSE THEY SHUT DOWN IN A FEW MINUTES. ROBOTS WHO CAN'T TRAVEL BECAUSE THEYRE HOOKED INTO A BANK OF BATTERIES
ROBOTS WHO OPERATE WAY ABOVE HUMAN PROCESSING AND COGNITION SO THEY INTERRUPT AND ANSWER QUESTIONS BEFORE YOUVE ASKED THEM
DO YOU HEAR ME CA. YOU HEAR ME....
games (mostly text-based) about houses and places-- exploring them, haunting them, feeding them:
childhood homes (and why we hate them) - after a decade, you return home.
return - a text-based horror game about coming home.
singing from the far side of the hill - about a trans woman, homeless after a bad breakup, who rents a stranger's spare room. it's a decision she comes to regret.
anatomy - Explore a suburban house, collect cassette tapes, study the physiology of domestic architecture.
leave house - leave house
the open house - We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator! Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!
what girls do in the dark - This little game is based off one of the greatest fears they had as a teenage girl: showing up late to a stranger's slumber party.
unbecoming - a sonically-textured interactive horror fiction exploring cycles of trauma and unspeakable forces of nature in a mythic rural American landscape.
13 laurel road - an interactive fiction game about the relationships we have with places and reconciling with trauma. You play as a young man named Noah who has been tasked with picking up some things from his cousin’s old house.
domvs - a gothic mystery game in which you rely on your environment to uncover the truth.
flesh, blood, & concrete - you find yourself in a vast, empty apartment complex.
i am still here - a short, unconventional ghost story and vignette reflecting on the end of a long lockdown.
vacant - Film a ghost-hunting show.
house md is awesome
We were discussing creating characters in my screenwriting class, and my professor had us fill out a number of these questions that I found could be helpful for other writers and roleplayers and could even be an ask meme. Below the cut are 100 QUESTIONS for your character to answer.
Keep reading
If you ever find yourself thinking "oh, I can't write this Cool But Impractical thing into my story, it's just not realistic", here are a few perfectly realistic reasons why people and even whole cultures would rather do something in an impractical way rather than the sensible one:
weird flex
religious reasons
religious weird flex (someone decided that they are So Religious that they consider the practical method Sinful, and people got competitive about it)
tax reasons (some ruler put a tax on doing something the sensible way and people started doing the impractical alternative as a legal loophole)
someone wildly powerful and popular preferred doing it that way, and everyone adapted to it in order to look cool
someone wildly unpopular suggested doing the practical thing, and everyone went out of their way to avoid doing that in order to not look uncool
it just genuinely never occurred to them that there is a better alternative, and their current method has been honed to perfection/adapted to the infrastructure so deeply that at this point altering it wouldn't be sensible
im sure someone already made a post about it but i came across a ublock origin add-on that blacklists around 950 AI websites and disables AI overview ☝️ so u can be free from seeing AI in your search
This is D-N of some common herbs and their uses
*longer read*
Love
Luck
Fertility
Used to keep negative energy away from the home or altar. Place fresh daffodils in the home to increase fertility. Wear near the heart to bring good luck.
Love
Luck
Innocence
Associated with babies and newborn infants. Incorporate into baby blessings & Wiccanings or to bring protective Magick into a baby's sleeping area. Wear or carry to draw love.
Summoning spirits
Healing
Purification
Defeating negativity.
Bury in northwest corner of yard to bring favorable winds. Use in sachets and charms to make wishes come true.
Divination
Wishes
Calling spirits
Use in dream pillows & sachets for sleep protection. Bury on northwest side of house to draw good luck.
Protection
Healing
Use to purify any space. Use dried leaves to stuff healing poppets, pillows, or sachets. Arrange a ring of dried leaves around a blue candle and burn the candle for healing vibrations. Carry in a sachet or amulet to help reconcile difficulties in a relationship, for protection, and/or to maintain health.
Money drawing
Fertility magick
Use in floor washes to bring money to the home. Place in a jar and add a few seeds every day to increase money flow to the household.
Mental clarity
Cleansing
Purification
Dispelling negativity
Keep in room where studying is done to help concentration. Burn a sprig of fern before an exam. Use in sachets and amulets for powerful auric protection.
Divination
Fertility
Love
Place a branch in front of the door before traveling to ensure a safe return. Write a question on a fig leaf -- if the leaf dries slowly, the answer is yes, otherwise the answer is no.
House & business blessing
Protection for the home
Wear around the neck for health and protection against the evil eye. *Poisonous*
Protection of home & garden
Vision
Immortality
Used to commune with those of the Underworld. *Poisonous*
Healing
Protection
Exorcism
Repulsion of vampires
Purification of spaces and objects
Used to invoke Hecate. Guards against negative magic, spirits, and the envy of others. Hang in the home to bring togetherness to the family or keep your willpower strong. Said to ward off bad weather when worn or carried during outside activities. Believed to absorb diseases -- rub fresh, peeled garlic against ailing body parts then throw the garlic into running water.
Overcoming negative thoughts & attitudes, lifting spirits, promoting protection & happiness. Repels insects. Balances mind and body.
Draws adventure and new experiences. Promotes sensuality, sexuality, personal confidence, prosperity, and success.
Adds to the strength and speed of any mixture of which it is a part. Place in amulet, mojo, or medicine bag to promote good health & protection. Use in herbal mixtures for the consecration of athames to strengthen and energize the ritual blade. A ginger root in the form of a human is a very powerful magickal token.
Fertility
Money
Mental powers
Garden magick
Use to paralyze a situation.
*Highly poisonous, do not consume.*
Attracting love and lust, divination, and dreams.
Carry in a sachet or burn as incense to attract love.
Draws money
Success
Quick abundance
Aids persuasiveness and confidence, sharpens intuition.
Ring green candles with honeysuckle flowers or use honeysuckle in charms & sachets to attract money. Crush the flowers and rub into the forehead to enhance psychic powers.
Promotes peace of mind and peaceful sleep. Attracts love, luck, and good fortune.
Named for Hiakinthos, Greek God of homosexual love, this is the patron herb for gay men. Guards against nightmares when used as an oil, burned as incense, or included in dream pillows. Carry in amulet or sachet to ease grief or the pain of childbirth.
Hex-breaking
Love drawing
Lringing back a lover
Fidelity
Binding
Protection
Healing
Fertility
Love
Hang an ivy plant in front of the home to repel negative influence and discourage unwanted guests. Mix in a sachet with Holly as a wedding gift to provide protection to the newly married couple. Place ground ivy around the base of a yellow candle on a Tuesday, then burn the candle to discover who (if anyone) is working negative magick against you.
Uses include snakebite and divination; good for charging quartz crystals. Use in sachets and spells to draw spiritual love and attract a soul mate. Carry or burn the flowers to draw wealth and money. Use in dream pillows to induce sleep or burn in the bedroom to bring prophetic dreams. Helps to promote new, innovative ideas.
Love
Protection
Healing
Sleep
Purification
Peace
Promotes healing from depression. Great in sleep pillows and bath spells. Believed to preserve chastity when mixed with rosemary. Burn the flowers to induce sleep and rest, then scatter the ashes around the home to bring peace and harmony. Use in love spells and sachets, especially those to attract men.
Cleansing
Spiritual opening
Purification
Removal of blockages
Add lemon peel to love sachets and mixtures. Soak peel in water and use the mixture as a wash for magickal objects to remove unwanted negativity, especially for objects received second-hand. Use an infusion of lemon to induce lust.
Love
Success
Healing
Psychic/spiritual development
Use in love charms & spells to attract a partner. Use in healing spells & rituals for those suffering from mental or nervous disorders.
Psychic cleansing
Opening
Also used in lust spells.
Divination
Lunar magick
Sleep
Protection
Love spells
Male sex magick
Fertility
Renewal
Rebirth
Marriage
Happiness
Prosperity
Purification
Protection
Promoting calmness and tranquility
Strengthening love
Promotes energy
Communication and vitality
Draws customers to a business
Use dried leaves to stuff a green poppet for healing. Place in wallet or purse or rub on money to bring wealth and prosperity. Use on the altar to draw good spirits to assist in your magick. Place in the home for protection.
Carried to increase lust & fertility
Prevent backache
Cure disease & madness
Place around divination and scrying tools to increase their power or near the bed to enable astral travel. Use in sleep pillow or place in a sachet under your pillowcase to bring about prophetic dreams. Use an infusion of mugwort to clean crystal balls and magick mirrors. *Toxic in large amounts*
Dispelling darkness & fear
Strengthening the will
Aiding in the ability to handle emergencies
Sprinkle in the home to drive off evil & negativity. Carry in a sachet or use with a poppet to turn back a spell on the one who cast it. Sprinkle on self to remove petty jealousies, gossip, envy, and uncomfortable situations.
Attracting money/prosperity
Bringing luck
Protection
Breaking hexes
Include in money magick and sachets. Carry as a good luck charm and/or to increase the intellect. Sprinkle nutmeg powder on green candles for prosperity.
And as always, merry meet <3
Atti
(photo - attichaos)