bonesofbirdwings

Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, by Julian Walker, Matthew Remski & Derek Beres

The central idea of this book is that the underlying principles of New Age philosophy and consipracy theories are very similar: Karma = "nothing happens by accident"; Illusion = "nothing is at it seems" and Interdependance = "everything is connected". An interesting and well-argued read.

I read this book early in 2025, at roughly the same time as The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care, by Rina Raphael (it was fine) so I'm not sure which of the two -- or even the Decoding the Gurus podcast I was bingeing at the time -- had this additional tidbit: part of the appeal of alternative medicine is the personalised aspect of it. You're not special, getting the same vaccine as everyone else, but this homeopathy is tailored to you specifically/this diet aligns with your astrological chart/etc.

delphi

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yhlee

The keyboard's legit great but I replaced some of the keycaps (the black ones that let the glow shine through) because I cannot find the hecking function keys in the dark reliably; I don't often use them outside of music production, the lighting in this room sucks, and I have a horrifying number of typing keyboards where the function key locations are just enough offset to throw off touch-typing.

custom keycaps and space bar

I'm unreasonably happy with the space bar! The seller will 3D print custom images/text if you send an image so I made a design for hilarity. :)

hikyoekizine posting in

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soricel posting in

smallfandomfest

Title: Overlap
Author: soricel/freevistas
Fandom: Sense8
Pairing/Characters: Nomi Marks & Lito Rodriguez
Rating/Category: G
Prompt: Closeness

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78102826

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runicmagitek

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conuly

Ms. Marcus says that an occasional poem is a poem
written about something
important
or special
that's gonna happen
or already did.
Think of a specific occasion, she says—and write about it.

Like what?! Lamont asks.
He's all slouched down in his seat.
I don't feel like writing about no occasion.

How about your birthday? Ms. Marcus says.
What about it? Just a birthday. Comes in June and it ain't
June, Lamont says. As a matter of fact,
he says, it's January and it's snowing.
Then his voice gets real low and he says
And when it's January and all cold like this
feels like June's a long, long ways away.

The whole class looks at Ms. Marcus.
Some of the kids are nodding.
Outside the sky looks like it's made out of metal
and the cold, cold air is rattling the windowpanes
and coming underneath them too.

I seen Lamont's coat.
It's gray and the sleeves are too short.
It's down but it looks like a lot of the feathers fell out
a long time ago.
Ms. Marcus got a nice coat.
It's down too but real puffy so
maybe when she's inside it
she can't even tell January from June.

Then write about January, Ms. Marcus says, that's
an occasion.
But she looks a little bit sad when she says it
Like she's sorry she ever brought the whole
occasional poem thing up.

I was gonna write about Mama's funeral
but Lamont and Ms. Marcus going back and forth
zapped all the ideas from my head.

I guess them arguing
on a Tuesday in January's an occasion
So I guess this is an occasional poem.

*************

Link

conuly

No real symptoms, but I'm a little stuffy and super sleepy.

******************************

( Read more... )

isis

What I've recently finished reading:

The Bear and the Serpent, the second book of the Echoes of the Fall series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. As with most books that have multiple storylines and POVs, there were parts I liked better than others; I was more interested in Loud Thunder's adventures as reluctant war leader (and Lone Mountain's journey to the coast) than I was in the goings-on of the River Lords. However, I really liked the bits of cultural worldbuilding there as well, particularly the Wolf priest and the Snake priest(ess) coming to an understanding, and the uneasy relationship of Asmander and Asman which sort of echoed that between Maniye and Akrit Stone River.

Toward the end, it became clear that this series ties into the Shadows of the Apt series, which I had read the first book of (Empire in Black and Gold) a while back, but didn't really feel inclined to continue. So when I finished, I grabbed book 2, Dragonfly Falling, but it only took me a few chapters before I had the "yeah, nah" feeling again, so I guess I won't read that series.

What I'm reading now:

I was about to buy book 3 but then my library hold on Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo came in unexpectedly quickly (

wychwood had reviewed it and it sounded up my alley) so I'm reading that now - hey, it's got people who turn into animals too!

What I've recently finished watching:

S2 of The Empress, which was really enjoyable. The setting of a great power in decline desperately trying to hold onto its glory through ill-advised military ventures is great escapism from...oh, never mind. They do have more magnificent dresses, though!

Actually one thing that struck me about this series is that although the women are formally valued only in their ability to produce boy babies, the narrative highlights their strength, the way they are the iron rods stapling things together. They may be swaddled in yards of cloth that make it difficult to run through the forest, but Elisabeth goes out and looks the people in the eye and talks to them, Sophie has a place at the council table, Charlotte gives Maximilian advice (and he listens) - well, they all give men advice, and the men ignore them at their peril.

What I'm playing now:

Still Ghost of Tsushima. Getting close to the end of the first part, I think!

conuly

That is not a sentence I want to read at any time in the morning.

(In celsius terms, it's -10 and feels like death.)

**********************

( Read more... )

green

I was already having a baaad day and now I just found out that Meg's neurologist isn't going to see her anymore. She's been going to him for 20 years. I keep crying ugh

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evandar

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner featuring an image of a wrapped giftbox with a snowflake on the gift tag. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

Challenge #10: Big Mood (Board)

CHOOSE SOMETHING YOU LOVE AND CREATE A MINI MOOD COLLECTION OF THREE (or more) ITEMS THAT EVOKE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT. You don’t have to limit yourself to visual media, or collect the items into a special format like a square (though you can if you’d like).

I've already mentioned in this year's Snowflake Challenge that I create playlists for pairings/fandoms, so I'm going to share one of those. Like I've said before, listening to playlists like this helps me to write. They also help me to stay within a particular fandom vibe whenever I'm not actively writing fanfic as well as help process fic ideas. So.

These are not things I usually share. Argh.

( Read more... )

That isn't the whole playlist. Some of the songs that I've left out are there for "inexplicable vibes" reasons; some are there because I listened to them while obsessing over the fandom and accidentally assigned them to a character and now can't separate them.

Current Mood: calm
Current Location: Hanoi - Vietnam
Current Music: Endlessness - Nightwish

conuly

And posting is rapid. Don't you need a distraction?

delphi

✓

kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: eBook/Audiobook

That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You is a 2025 memoir by comedian/musician/online personality Elyse Myers. It's a collection of essays, free verse poetry, and lists that take a humorous but heartfelt look at formative and vulnerable moments in her life, with a retrospective understanding of the anxiety and undiagnosed neurodivergence that often shaped them.

Stories include a childhood fixation on a Magic 8 Ball, overthinking and missing the obvious during a teenage game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, college panic attacks, Parisian dates gone awry, beach encounters gone sour, and conquering the mysteries of gravel roads. Anyone familiar with Elyse Myers' work online knows she has a way of telling a story and getting a laugh while also not being afraid to be earnest. If you haven't seen her videos before, you can check her out on TikTok or on Youtube.

I don't listen to a ton of audiobooks, my main exception being memoirs that are read by their authors. That usually works out for me, but in this case I really wish I'd gone with the print book for three reasons:

1) It turns out the print edition is full of little illustrations and creative formatting that brings a lot to some of the pieces.

2) One of the things I enjoy about Myers is her more freeform and sometimes frenetic delivery, but this was a more sedate and traditional audiobook performance.

3) Related to #2, several stories triggered some secondhand embarrassment for me and having to listen to that be slowly relayed instead of being able to read faster during those was rough.

( An Excerpt )

conuly

Poll #34102 Snow

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

View Respondents

After the snow has fallen, sometimes it looks like more snow is falling when the wind blows it off of trees and roofs. Do you have a word or specific phrase for this?

View Answers

Yes, and I'll tell you in the comments
6 (12.5%)

No, but I've heard some people use a term which I'll tell you in the comments
1 (2.1%)

No
37 (77.1%)

No - I don't live where it snows and am unfamiliar with this phenomenon
4 (8.3%)

Clicky?

View Answers

CLICKY
36 (100.0%)

( Read more... )

dorchadas

The wind chill when I left today was -16°C. Now it's up to a toasty -9°C and tomorrow it will get to almost above freezing! ...and then on Friday it'll drop down to -22°C overnight. Welp.

This morning I overthrew my entire usual days in the office tradition and, rather than have a traditional Japanese breakfast with rice and pickles and miso soup, I had avocado toast and Greek yogurt with raspberries and almonds on it. Much more filling, honestly, but not something I want to do every day. There's something nice about being able to take the already-made shiozake out of the fridge, crack the rice cooker open to get the already-hot rice... Just enough time-saving to let me enjoy my mornings.

I went to the work canteen today and got a meal from Taste of China and it made me put another category in my Notes app list of work restaurants. Right now I have "Restaurants Yes" (home to places like Tandoor Char House) and "Restaurants No." I ordered mabo dōfu with egg fried rice and...it was fine. Worth the $9 I spent on it, I guess. I'll think about it when I see it in the future. And when I realized I had that reaction, I made a "Restaurants Maybe" list and put it on there. We'll see what else gets put there.

Tomorrow is a soul food restaurant and, well, no thanks. Nothing against soul food, I just don't trust that I can eat any of it. Maybe if Michael Twitty cooked it for me.

Current Mood: cold
Current Music: Lazerhawk - King of the Streets

schneefink

I think this is the last year I do

fandomtrees because like last time I didn't make as many gifts as I wanted and feel bad...

But I did write a post-canon Silksong drabble I'm quite proud of:
Silk Snare for

knave_of_swords
post-canon Lace(&Hornet) drabble
Summary: Much Silk was needed to see her sustained.
Notes: One of my favorite fannish drabbles I've written, I think it works very well.

I got pretty icons under my tree: some Hornet icons by

gimmighoulcoins and some Grian icons by

sarajayechan :D Lovely.

And I also got two other Silksong gifts recently:
Sunlight Dyed by

CrushingOnGogh
stained glass art
Summary: Hornet from Silksong, depicted in stained glass
So pretty! The lights and the colors and the shapes!

reprieve by

strifetxt
1k, Hornet & Shakra gen
Summary: Hornet, a conversation, and a musing.
Aaah the Hornet feelings <3

dorchadas

Last year I played a game a month, and actually accomplished it! This year...I did not. I had plans but everything was overthrown in the first part of the year. These are the games I played in 2025:

Vintage Story
Jupiter Hell
Forgive Me Father
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (review pending)

I was originally playing Horizon's Gate and then Vintage Story hit me like a truck and consumed all of my time. I spent the first six months or so of the year playing that, then played some Cataclysm and other games for a bit before picking up Jupiter Hell, played Witch Spring R but didn't beat it--I'm playing in Japanese so it's taking quite a while--and near the end of the year I bought Clair Obscur on sale and played it right through the end of the year. No review yet because I'm cleaning up all the post-game stuff, but soon.

Not as many games as last year, but boy did I enjoy all that time with Vintage Story.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Vintage Story - Vintage Story

dorchadas

New Year's meme time.

( Read more... )

Happy New Year to everyone!

Current Mood: pensive
Current Music: Midnight Kids - All-Nighter

Profile

BonesofBirdWings

January 2020

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Page Summary

dhampyresa - Mini book review
delphi - FIC: Safe Harbour (Our Flag Means Death, Archie/Fang/Frenchie/Izzy/Jim)
yhlee - extremely silly keyboard mod
hikyoekizine in fandomcalendar - Hikyō eki 秘境駅 | A Dead Dove & NSFW JJK Zine
soricel in smallfandomfest - Fanfic, Sense8, Nomi Marks & Lito Rodriguez, Closeness
runicmagitek - A Year in Review - 2025 Sure was a Rollercoaster
conuly - Occasional Poem by Jacqueline Woodson
conuly - I wonder if, despite my best efforts, I've managed to come down with a mild cold
isis - wednesday reads and things
conuly - Brr! "14F, feels like 7"
green - (no subject)
seleneheart in fandomcalendar - Dreamwidth Book Club
evandar - Snowflake Challenge #10
conuly - threesentenceficathon is open now
delphi - What I'm Reading: That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You by Elyse Myers (2025)
conuly - Linguistics question
dorchadas - Taste of China
schneefink - I wrote a Silksong drabble and got Silksong gifts
dorchadas - Gaming in 2025
dorchadas - New Year's Retrospective 2025

Style Credit

Style: Sea and Salt for Nouveau Oleanders by branchandroot
Resources: OpenClipart and Oceanside Twilight

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Page generated Jan. 23rd, 2026 02:08 am

Collecting Bones for the Death God's Throne

Reading

Mini book review

FIC: Safe Harbour (Our Flag Means Death, Archie/Fang/Frenchie/Izzy/Jim)

extremely silly keyboard mod

Hikyō eki 秘境駅 | A Dead Dove & NSFW JJK Zine

Fanfic, Sense8, Nomi Marks & Lito Rodriguez, Closeness

A Year in Review - 2025 Sure was a Rollercoaster

Occasional Poem by Jacqueline Woodson

I wonder if, despite my best efforts, I've managed to come down with a mild cold

wednesday reads and things

Brr! "14F, feels like 7"

(no subject)

Dreamwidth Book Club

Snowflake Challenge #10

threesentenceficathon is open now

What I'm Reading: That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You by Elyse Myers (2025)

Linguistics question

Taste of China

I wrote a Silksong drabble and got Silksong gifts

Gaming in 2025

New Year's Retrospective 2025

Profile

January 2020

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Style Credit

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