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310 results for “abmurrow”
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Queer Magic interview with Willow Moon
Willow Moon lives in the Pacific Northwest & has been teaching Witchcraft for over 20 years. He was initiated & taught by the late & much-beloved Niklas Gander, & Victor & Cora Anderson. He is an initiate of the Anderson Faery tradition, the Gardnerian tradition, & the Minoan tradition.
https://anderson-faery.org/teachers/#AndersonFaeryTradition #WillowMoon #GardnerianWicca #inclusiveWicca #MinoanTradition #LGBTQIA #QueerMagic #queerwitches
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Fantastic post by @teaaddictedwitch
"Tackling Misinformation in Wicca" from the Tea-Addicted Witch blog.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tale-of-two-77427625
#Wicca #InitiatoryWicca #eclecticWicca #misinformation #WiccanRede #ThreefoldLaw #BookOfShadows #Gardner #Crowley
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Just watched this amazing documentary about the importance of Frederick Douglass (it’s on HBO, made last year, and available on YouTube I think)
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Free idea: a browser extension that tells you if the website you're on (and what parts and portion of it) is being served from AWS.
Amazon boycotts are great and all, but let's be honest-- AWS is the cash cow, and we hardly ever know when we're using it.
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I’ve been seeing people celebrating #SunWait the last few years and wondered where it came from all of a sudden, so I googled it and found this video which is a nice explanation of it, and a how-to guide
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Just watched a thing on Netflix… worst acting and production values I’ve seen for a long while … unless they deliberately hammed it up? … but it was oddly compelling… maybe it was the terrible acting or the cute dog. Anyway VAMPIRE DOG 🐕 🧛♂️
Actually the dog was the best actor in the whole thing. The boy’s acting was OK too, to be fair.
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Outrageous and shameful that a judge can deny genocide at a residential school and then jail an Indigenous land defender who is also a residential school survivor.
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Óminnishegri heitir
sá er yfir ölðrum þrumir,
hann stelr geði guma; þess fugls fjöðrum
ek fjötraðr vark í garði Gunnlaðar.The mind-stealing heron hovers over feasts
waiting to seize men's wits;
that bird's feathers fettered me
when I came to Gunnlod's court.Stanza 13 of the Hávamál
So it wasn’t the mead that caused it, it was the mind-stealing heron — riiight. I can relate.
#Havamal #NorsePoetry #drinking #feasting #AncientPagans #Heathenry #hangover
https://bookspublicdomain.com/havamal/website-OUT/stanza13.html
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Glad to see my 2023 Queer Pagan reading list and Paul Cornell's new book get a mention on The Wild Hunt.
#Pagan #Wicca #QueerPagan #Queer #Books #Reading #WitchBooks #QueerBooks #QueerWitchBooks #LGBTQIA #WitchesOfWW2 #TheWildHuntPaganNews #PaganNews
https://wildhunt.org/2023/01/pagan-community-notes-week-of-january-9-2023.html
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Also, fair game to announce it here as well as on my blog, but I am going to be speaking about this Drupal and NixOS integration at DrupalSouth in Wellington, NZ on May 14th!
The talk is titled "Reproducible Drupal Environments The Easy Way: A Hands-On Look At Using Drupal With Nix & NixOS"
https://drupalsouth.org/events/drupalsouth-wellington-2026/schedule/4236
Really looking forward to sharing this tool with people and talking about how to use it. Come say hi in Breakout Room 2 at 9:40 if you want to learn about functional declarative software environments, what they are, why they're useful, and how to use them to build your favorite PHP-powered CMS, share it with anyone, and deploy it on any Linux computer anywhere all without using Docker, virtualization, or clusters.
The minimal impelemntation only requires a single line of code and it a runs on native hardware!
Mark your calendars: https://events.humanitix.com/drupalsouth-2026-wellington-nz
See you there!
#DrupalSouth #Speaker #Drupal #OpenSource #NZ #Aotearoa #Nix #NixOS
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William Walker, the Winchester Cathedral diver, who shored up the foundations of the cathedral. I didn’t realize that he died in the 1918 flu pandemic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-45761496 - I love that loads of his descendants were at the commemorative service.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-hampshire-18733238 - short video
#WilliamWalker #FluPandemic1918 #divers #history #WinchesterCathedral
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RE: https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/116265905987693759
Amazing how fast Linux went from being the first and last name in digital counterculture to now being full of compliance bros seeking online clout.
This guy and his one-man mission to implement bad faith age verification at all costs is a warning for the open computing community.
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RE: https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/116265905987693759
Amazing how fast Linux went from being the first and last name in digital counterculture to now being full of compliance bros seeking online clout.
This guy and his one-man mission to implement bad faith age verification at all costs is a warning for the open computing community.
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RE: https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/116265905987693759
Amazing how fast Linux went from being the first and last name in digital counterculture to now being full of compliance bros seeking online clout.
This guy and his one-man mission to implement bad faith age verification at all costs is a warning for the open computing community.
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RE: https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/116265905987693759
Amazing how fast Linux went from being the first and last name in digital counterculture to now being full of compliance bros seeking online clout.
This guy and his one-man mission to implement bad faith age verification at all costs is a warning for the open computing community.
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RE: https://mamot.fr/@Khrys/116265905987693759
Amazing how fast Linux went from being the first and last name in digital counterculture to now being full of compliance bros seeking online clout.
This guy and his one-man mission to implement bad faith age verification at all costs is of warning for the open computing community.
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WOW!!! 🤩
Amateur archaeologist uncovers ice age ‘writing’ system#archaeology #IceAge #protoWriting #counting — https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jan/05/amateur-archaeologist-uncovers-ice-age-writing-system?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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Fun reading challenge on StoryGraph (independent book-logging app).
#ReadingChallenge2023 #ReadingChallenges #books #BookApps #bookstodon
https://app.thestorygraph.com/reading_challenges/58815d22-9502-4645-a44b-847a26aa1c54
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An explanation of the preferred order of adjectives in English
OSASCOMP: (linguistics, mnemonic) Order of adjectives: opinion, size, age, shape, colour, origin, material, purpose
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The Hand of Irulegi (cool name!) has writing on it, and is from the time of the Vascones, the forerunners of the Basques. The one word that’s been deciphered so far is nearly the same as the modern Basque word for “fortunate”, so it’s probably a good luck amulet. It was not known before that the Vascones were literate before contact with the Romans; this shows that they were.
#archaeology #Basques #Vascones #AncientWriting #TheHandOfIrulegi — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-2100-year-old-bronze-hand-may-help-rewrite-the-history-of-basque-language-180981153/
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The Hand of Irulegi (cool name!) has writing on it, and is from the time of the Vascones, the forerunners of the Basques. The one word that’s been deciphered so far is nearly the same as the modern Basque word for “fortunate”, so it’s probably a good luck amulet. It was not known before that the Vascones were literate before contact with the Romans; this shows that they were.
#archaeology #Basques #Vascones #AncientWriting #TheHandOfIrulegi — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-2100-year-old-bronze-hand-may-help-rewrite-the-history-of-basque-language-180981153/
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The Hand of Irulegi (cool name!) has writing on it, and is from the time of the Vascones, the forerunners of the Basques. The one word that’s been deciphered so far is nearly the same as the modern Basque word for “fortunate”, so it’s probably a good luck amulet. It was not known before that the Vascones were literate before contact with the Romans; this shows that they were.
#archaeology #Basques #Vascones #AncientWriting #TheHandOfIrulegi — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-2100-year-old-bronze-hand-may-help-rewrite-the-history-of-basque-language-180981153/
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A couple of months ago, I wrote a Mastodon thread about one of my favorite creative writing exercises known as Cartes Noires or “Black Cards” in English. The response from writers on the Fediverse was really positive. However, I found trying to explain some of the finer details of this constraint somewhat challenging with the character limit. So, that’s why we’re here! In this post, I wanted to do a write-up in a blog format so I could include more details, more photos, and a better resource for future writers.
What Is Cartes Noires?
Cartes Noires is a constrained writing exercise to help authors craft the plot for a mystery novel in about 30 minutes. To do it, you only need a standard deck of playing cards and your imagination. By setting a couple of rules about what certain cards mean, it is possible to make a fairly elaborate, novel-length whodunnit story on the fly.
There are a ton of different ways that someone could modify this basic novel writing framework to suit their individual needs or genres. The idea of using playing cards for story writing shows up in other narrative discipplines other than novel writing. In that regard, there are related farmworks out there for other genres. For instance, there is a similar similar system using a deck of cards called The Quiet Year, which is adapted for fantasy worldbuilding in the TTRPG world. What makes Cartes Noires unique is its use of laying cards out in a specific arrangement with certain positions meaning certain relationships between characters, or types of clues in the story. This makes the exercise sort of cousin of tarrot cards.
Some of the commenters from my original thread openly wondered if a tarot deck could work instead of playing cards. Even if it couldn’t (due to that pesky fifth suit), this system certainly feels like murder divinination. So, let’s light a few white spell candles beneath an alter to Agatha Christie and get started.
Who Created Cartes Noires?
The Oulipo is credited with the creation of this and many other creative writing exercises like it. The Oulipo is a group of predominantly French writers and mathematicians who sought to create a catalog of constrained writing prompts and creative writing exercises. These writing constraints designed to sharpen the skills of new and old writers alike, and they often featured a mathematical twist. Many giants of postmodern literature called themselves members at one time or another during their careers. Alums include Georges Perec, Italo Calvino, François Le Lionnais, and Raymond Queneau. The word “Oulipo” is a portmanteau that stands for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle, roughtly translated as “the workshop for potential literature.”
Creative Writing Exercises For Detective Fiction
To be more specific, the Cartes Noires system was developed by an offshoot group inspired by the Oulipo, called the Oulipopo. The extra “po” stands for the word policière, which in this case makes the translated group name read as “the workshop for potential detective literature.” Altogether, that means that the Oulipopo was focused making constrained writing prompts for mystery novels and dective fiction.
Cartes Noires was one of the creative writing exercises that came out of this group. The Oulipopo and the Oulipo saw constraints like this as a way of forcing a writer to adhere to a set of rules to help them sharpen, focus, or otherwise enhance their writing by forcing them to think outside of the box. A box, in fact, that the author helped create in the first place!
Setup & Example Exercise
Here is an example image of what Cartes Noires might look like when laid out on a table. Note that specific cards are laid out in a certain order. I will describe what each of these cards, suits, and positions means in detail.
To get started you will need a deck of playing cards, but not the whole deck.
You Will Need:
- Face Cards
- Aces
- 10’s
- 8’s
- 7’s
Note that the image I posted on this tutorial also has 2’s. This is a non-standard addition that I used to customize the constraint to my own needs, but more on that later. For now, know that you are free to adapt this system to your particular needs, or even just as a way to challenge yourself.
What The Cards Mean
- Kings and Queens represent the main suspects in your case. One of these will be your victim, you’re free to choose the one you like based on the plot suggested by the arrangement of the cards and the kind of stories you like to write.
- Jacks represent witnesses.
- Aces represent powerful motives for a suspect to commit the crime. Each suit represents a different kind of motive which I describe below. Note that aces can only implicate a single suspect at a time based on where it is placed in the grid. So, even though an Ace of Spades is touching both the King of Diamonds and the Queen of Spades, the Ace of Spades only directly implicates the Queen of Spades.
- The ace in the upper right implicates the suspect on its right.
- The ace in the bottom right implicates the suspect directly below.
- The ace in the bottom left implicates the suspect on its left.
- The ace in the upper left implicates the suspect directly above.
- 10’s represent a secret relationship between the two face cards they are touching. The suit of the card suggests the nature of the relationship.
- 7’s represent circumstantial evidence whether it be, hearsay or some other form of inference.
- 8’s represent physical evidence like blood, footprints, the murder weapon, etc.
Each type of card from this list is used to represent a different plot element in your story.
On Red Herrings
In my customized version of the constraint, I used 2’s to represent red herrings that I want to plant during the story. This could be something like a popular (but incorrect) reading of what certain evidence may mean concerning the case or even something as simple as a witness who lies to the detective.
What The Suits Mean
The card suits represent motives or character traits in a general sense. Every card’s meaning, character, or relevance to the plot can be augmented by the suit it carries.
- Spades represent misdemeanors and illegal, corrupt, or simply dubious activities.
- Clubs represent financial interests, money, greed, venality, envy, and avarice.
- Hearts represent passion, love, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance.
- Diamonds represent ambition, betrayal, and power.
Keep these suits in mind when you are laying out your cards. It will help you figure out how your suspects are connected, why they may have wanted to commit a crime, and what their backgrounds are. Get creative here!
Laying Out The Cards
To begin with, this constrained writing system is always a little more fun if you give the deck a good shuffle. That way, you can be surprised by the unexpected combinations of cards and positions. Of course, you can”fine-tune” the story by moving a few cards around to fit a particular reading.
Start With The Aces
Lay your aces out in a 2×2 grid. Remember that the placement of each ace implicates a certain suspect. Refer to the cards list above for details.
Arrange The Royals & 10’s
Place face cards directly above, below, left, and right of the Aces. In the corners, place the 10’s.
Complete The Evidence Squares
The 10’s you placed in the last step make up one corner of what I call the “Evidence Squares”. Adjacent to each ten place a single 7, and a 8. Diagonal to the 10, place a Jack.
Add Your Own Creative Touch (Optional)
Now you have a choice. As I’ve said before, you could jump ahead and decipher what your cards may mean. Or you can rearrange them, or add more cards to the base structure to suggest other requirements for your plot.
Interpreting The Cards
Now for the fun part.
Your final arrangement should give you some examples of how your prime suspects are related, why they wanted the victim dead, who that victim knew, and the kinds of evidence that the killer may (or may not) have left behind. Plus, your arrangement may suggest any number of red herrings, plausible (but ultimately, wrong) motives to kill the victim, and even some general ideas about how your detective could learn information by talking to suspects and gathering clues.
A Sample Card Reading
Using my example image once again, here are some plot points the cards may suggest:
- The King of Hearts is a writer and our victim. He appears to have been murdered in a crime of passion (AH).
- One suspect is a rich movie director (KC) who was being blackmailed by the victim (via 10C).
- Other suspects include an Ex-Lover (QH) who wanted to kill the victim because he had ruined her career, and King of Diamonds, a long-lost friend of the victim who may have murdered him over a disagreement about a crime they committed together as kids.
A note on interpreting Jacks. It helps to limit the scope of these cards to the two suspects they are closest to. Let’s refer to my example image again. The 8 of Clubs and the 7 of Diamonds in the upper left-hand corner are logically related to the Queen of Clubs and the King of Spades. This means that this witness has specific information about one or both of the suspects in this corner of the grid.
Summary
Speaking for myself, writing constraints like Cartes Noires get me really inspired to write. They a true challenge to pull off and work into a story without anyone noticing. However, they force me to consider every step in my writing and really show up during the process. I’ve said it before, it’s really easy to get in a writing rut.
As writers, we so often delude ourselves into thinking we have creative control over every aspect of our writing. We tell ourselves we can write anything we want. However, we fall short of that promise when we reach for the same tools, words, and plots time and time again.
I believe keeping creative writing exercises like this on hand can make us better writers. More than that, I think regular practice can also make us better judges of craft.
If you end up writing a piece of writing using Cartes Noires, I’d love to read it! Please feel free to share your experiences and let me know what it was like for you in your practice.
https://abmurrow.com/writing-prompts/creative-writing-exercises-for-mystery-and-detective-fiction/
#AmWriting #Blog #ConstrainedWriting #Experimental #mystery #Novel #NovelWriting #Oulipo #WritingCommunity #WritingPrompt
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You Wouldn’t Steal A Poem
Have you ever wanted to steal the way something sounds? Have you ever wanted to take something you just heard someone say but twist it to your bizarre whims? Good news! Maybe you can live out that fantasy without actually committing a thoughtcrime (or a real crime). The holorhyme constraint is a tool for creating experimental poetry.
The Writing Prompt
The goal of the exercise is to take an existing piece of text and write a new one based entirely on rhyming words. This could even be adapted to the particular dialect, affectation, or speed at which someone talks (and how you heard it). I’ve even seen this used as a type of satire to borrow the rhythm and texture of a well-known speech or dramatic monologue and make a total mockery of it. Use with caution.
Think of this writing constraint as a sort of game of telephone, or (to put it more elegantly) material impressionism. The goal is to take the way something sounds like to you when read aloud, and then twist that impression into something new. A fun variation of this exercise is to record yourself reading something, run it through a crappy piece of transcription software, and then see what comes out. YouTube used to be an excellent resource for making experimental poetry using this method. It may still be, but I’ve not checked up on it for a while.
Example Poem
The example below is a quick little poem I made when reading the English alphabet forwards, then backward. It is also a rough approximation of what 2000s-era AI chatbots sounded like when they talked to each other.
ABC...CBAA bee: seedy effigy.Age, hide, shake rays,an elemental pea—cures. Tea you feedouble-true as eggs—wisely.See why exits wobble you.Be you to us our que? Peonies, in the mail: Cage-A.I ate Shea, Jeffie, and deceived—Be “Yay!”In order to really get a good sense for how this constraint works, I encourage you to read this or your own poem out loud. You will know you’re getting it right when a person in the next room could have sworn you were saying something else altogether.
https://abmurrow.com/writing-prompts/experimental-poetry-holorhyme/
#Blog #ConstrainedWriting #ExperimentalPoetry #Holorhyme #Oulipo #poem #PoetryCommunity #WritingComunity #WritingPrompt #WritingTips
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I'm using a 3D printer to help me prototype a historic bridge for my banjo (details forthcoming) and I have to admit, I'm catching the 3D printing bug. I'm finding myself thinking about buying a Raspberry Pi and a framing kit to build one myself.
However, I have some concerns.
PLA, the most common 3D printing material, is a so-called "biodegradable" polymer. In previous generations, biodegradable plastics worked like this:
Plastic: I am biodegradeable!
*Looks inside*
*Non-biodegradeable microplasrics held together with corn celluose that dissolve with water*How similar is PLA in this regard? I don't know enough chemistry to reliably tell what is going on under the surface.
My ultimate concern is that getting into this hobby will just lead to a ton of plastic pollution under the guise of green washing.
Do any makers have some notion of what the conversation is right now?
Feel free to boost, I'm curious to hear what people think.
#3d #print3d #MakerTools #makers #maker #MakerFaire #eco #diy #environment #eco #question #3dprint
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Why not give yourself a free festive treat and subscribe to my YouTube channel? Lots of queer magic, conversations about art and magic, history of witchcraft, and more
https://youtube.com/@YvonneAburrow
#QueerMagic #Pagan #history #witchcraft #TheArtMagical #LGBTQIA #Wicca
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Dead Pope Hammer would make a brilliant name for a rock band…