#March 2024 Books

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Off the Air by Christina Estes #BookReview #ARCReview #NetGalley #CozyMystery #MinotaurBooks #NewBooks

What a great debut offering from reporter turned author, Christina Estes. #OfftheAir is a murder mystery with a lot of behind-the-scenes of a news station thrown in, which was just right for this former TV producer. #Bookreview #minotaurbooks #cozymystery

Equal parts thought-provoking and entertaining, Emmy Award winning reporter Christina Estes introduces Jolene Garcia in her Tony Hillerman Prize winning debut, Off the Air . Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona, splitting her time between covering general assignments―anything from a monsoon storm to a newborn giraffe at the zoo―and special projects. Stories that take more…

[why-the-heck-not]

makes a to do list. gets too stressed to start on it before it’s waaaaay to late (ohno!!)

[astarless-fights]

For those on tumblr not in the know, Mark Zuckerberg lobbied the United States Congress to ban Tiktok from the United States after proving difficulty to overcome the loss of users to Tiktok. Through gifts and stocks, the House Energy and Commerce Committee successfully banned Tiktok. It needs to be very clear to those who have not been able to pay attention: The Committee interviewed Tiktok's CEO with questions that did not relate to Tiktok but instead to META. This precedent is very alarming. What is fine for one, is not the other- even if the other isn't participating.

Some key points:

Tiktok stores (stored, depending on what day you see this) all United States data on US soil in Texas and gives backdoor entry to the NSA. - This is important for the United States to check for the bad people on all platforms.

Listed members on the committee asked questions of activities Tiktok does not participate in but all of META does. Giving us immediate confirmation our government is fine with domestic platforms selling our data without consent.

An incredibly concerning detail showed its face while this was going down. All META platforms have access to every device's data using the same WIFI you connect to and they use that data.

META has given me the urge to puke for several years but last year was a moment of true question of how I move forward in a world that already seemingly has my data, even if I did not consent to the passing around of it.

When META decided to include AI in their system after investors seemed to require everyone to do so, the question of safety crossed my mind. META had announced the platforms were using everything you produce and have produced (posts, videos, photos) to not just train their own AI system, but they were also sending your information to a 3rd party as well. This included a setting toggle for consent that was default ON.

When the masses found out and toggled it off, META redesigned the Settings page to make it harder for you to find the consent option. They also made it so it wasn't just a "toggle" but now you had to write to them.

When the masses found out again (because we don't want this) how to get there, they redesigned the settings page again, hid the consent deeper, and required you to write to them with proof they even used your information... So that you can consent or not to consent to use their information.

I have been on this app since 2008 and relied heavily on this website when I was 14 while trying to escape the all seeing eyes I was friends with on Facebook. During this, tumblr became an amazing news resource for bills about to pass that endangered every bit of what the internet is known for: free speech and free of choice.

Back then, this site was all I had. I worshipped Tumblr for giving me emotional outlets and outside opinions during a very rough and miserable transition as a teen. So when Tumblr shared Bills trying to regulate our internet that would prevent reaching sites like Tumblr, I campaigned to my 150 student school and the two 1000 student public schools near me to reach out to our representatives, especially those 18 year olds waiting for a new horizon. With this, our representative and our governor in South Carolina, reached out to us at the time, letting us know they didn't realize how loved these spaces were and that they needed protecting. Communicating knowledge is powerful.

Having sites like Tumblr and Reddit circulate incoming bills like this was required to know about it. No one on Facebook saw any of that coming and they definitely won’t find out now with Zuckerberg making sure of it.

I have always seen the importance of internet regulation but for whatever reason (propaganda pushing) the People who work for us (reps, congress, the house, the committees) always wanted to pass bills that prevented people from talking and accessing new information.

The Tiktok ban passed by our government is not a good sign for anyone who uses the internet. The total amount of Americans who use this app to create community, careers, businesses, market their art, is at 102.3 million. That's a shit ton of businesses and communities that just end on the 19th of January.

And you might think, well why wouldn't they backup to another platform and I am sure many will, but Tiktok has such a unique algorithm that actually pushes businesses into the limelight and because of that, there is a massive community there that uplifts businesses that are falling behind. Currently, there is no other algorithm on US soil that compares to just how much it uplifts accounts that don't do well starting out. We lost so many creators after Vine because no other app could translate the humor and creativity. It's going to be a bigger loss after Tiktok goes because of that same issue.

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If they are willing to ban a site that is very minimally connected to China, an incredibly huge resource for Americans for everything and anything and all for an increase in paycheck, what else will they be banning in the future when money is waved in their faces by one entity? They already went for one where the American people are heavily reliant on and one that is supposed to be protected under free speech and free of choice. If META wants something dead, give it a year, and it will die.

The Internet and social platforms have always been protected by free speech and freedom of choice. But these aspects have also been on the chopping block since the wild wild west of internet. I fear, this will not stop with just Tiktok.

[godbirdart]

today is the first day in a very very long time that i woke up on one of my scheduled days off and didn't feel the Work Panic set in and it's... very surreal. things are quiet. i feel like i could actually read the books i bought months ago or work on the personal projects that got sidelined last year.

not going to elaborate more beyond "working a bit too much overtime and now a year's gone by somehow" but wow,,, maybe i will do an activity for me today ?? the possibilities ...

[bey-life]

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

March Week 2 - Spell and Ritual Outline

So this week's prompts sort of all ride alongside one another and go toward one common theme. How to outline and create spells and rituals. It will all focus on the who, what, when, where and how, more or less, which is a pretty good model for anything.

Monday- Basic Outline

New Page/ Lab Notebook - So for this whole ordeal this week, we're going to work mostly in our lab notebook and do some internal thinking, and research. It will be mostly one page each for spell making and ritual making for the entire week, or pages depending on how detailed you want to go. So to start out, make one page for each or add them to the pages you used to define what a spell and a ritual are.

So what are the who, what, when, where, and why of spells and rituals, to you? Make a list of these on a sheet of paper and fill them in with what you feel these things are. You can even do these on the pages you've already made. We'll expand on them as the week goes on.

Research/ new page - herbal research. Pick another herb from you list and go to town on the research! Magical and mundane uses, associations and so on!

Tuesday - purpose, method, ingredients

Research - this is about the “who” “what” and “why” what purposes can you perform a spell or ritual for? Who is the spell for? Who are you performing it on? It can be practically anything or anyone. What are you doing the spell for, what do you want it to accomplish? Looking for love? Need confidence? Want to manifest something? Want to bring more money into your life? Solidify a friendship? Protect yourself or someone else? This is followed directly by why. Why are you looking for love? Why are you protecting yourself or someone else? What you are doing and why you are doing it are intimately connected. Sometimes it can take a great deal of introspection to figure out how these are connected, other times, it is obvious.

Methodology -this is the “how” in the spell. What methods are there to casting spells and performing rituals? Look back at your types of magic pages and think hard on the ways you can cast spells for those different types of magic. Is there a certain way to prepare for spells and rituals? What steps do you take to prepare for the spell and what steps do you take after the spell or ritual? What steps are a part of the ritual? How do you actually perform the spell? Method of spellwork has everything to do with the “how” in the spell, where the purpose beforehand is the “why”.

Ingredients/ tools - this is the “what” within the spell. What ingredients if any does it require? What tools does it require? What kinds of things are a part of the spell? Incense, statues, gems and so on. What do you need to bring to the spell or ritual for it to be what it is?

Wednesday - location, direction, timing

Location and timing - this is the “where”and “when” within the spell or ritual. Is there a specific location you need to perform the spell or ritual? A specific direction you have to face? Do you have to wait for a certain day, week, month? A certain astrological sign or event, like a phase of the moon? Does the spell require you to face north or south? East or west? Or to go through all the directions? How does this information fit into your outline?

New page/ research - gemstone/ other- pick another gem or what have you from your list and research it! Everything from mundane to magical uses! How is it formed? Where is it from? So on and so forth.

Thursday - other parts of spells/ rituals

What other things are part of your spells or rituals? How do you make them yours? What personal touches and flares do you bring to your magic?

Friday - putting it to practice

Practical- if you’ve outlined the general idea of a spell and ritual, or even if you’ve made a specific one, let’s make one, and then do it! Perform the spell or ritual! And journal about it afterwards!

This has been a long and heavy week, but we made it!

Good Luck and Happy Crafting witches!

-Mod Hazel

[books-in-a-storm]

March 2024 JOMPBPC: Day 12 Bookshelf

[benzgarfield]

The way Garfield looks at Benz

(and the way Benz looks at Garfield)

Source: x, x, x, x

[bargainsleuthbooks]

Death in Venice (Lady Eleanor Swift #17) by Verity Bright #BookReview #ARCReview #NetGalley #Bookouture #CozyMystery

Eleanor Swift is back with another #GoldenAgeMystery, this time in Venice. I love this plucky, independent, forthright heroine and enjoy all her adventures. #DeathinVenice #bookreview #Netgalley #Bookouture #cozymystery #newbooks

Stunning views across the Grand Canal and a hotel suite fit for royalty… Lady Eleanor Swift is having a jolly good time on her Italian vacation, until a gondola ride is cut murderously short! 1924. Lady Eleanor Swift has been on a grand tour around Italy for a month with her butler Clifford. Finally arriving in Venice, she’s thrilled to be attending the famous carnival: all that’s needed is the…

[why-the-heck-not]

how it feels like to go to a lecture after an allnighter

[slavic-roots-western-mind]

[bypatia]

life lately ft 2024 tbr

[bey-life]

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

March Week 4 - Deeper Ancestry

We touched the surface of ancestry a couple times. But now it’s time to really dig. It goes beyond just the family you know of already, grandparents and great grandparents. It goes back further and further, to the very point you can no longer trace your origins. If you don't know your ancestry, the easiest way is to ask. Ask your parents, your grandparents and your great grandparents about where your family is from. Beyond that, you could always do a geneology test. Ancestry.com or something similar, to get a generalized idea of where your bloodline stems from.

Here are some basic steps to genealogical research.

Start with yourself

Look for names, dates, places and relationships - this comes from asking family members about their lives before you were around.

Begin at home - does your family keep personal records of any kind? Journals or diaries passed down? Heirlooms of any kind? My aunt sent me some books a few years ago with historical records of my family in Texas. It contained some journal and diary entires, pictures, and a few personal effects.

Use relatives as sources - ask. My grandmother and I spent one summer doing nothing but family research and literally making a family tree.

County, State, and Federal records (births, marriages, deaths) - These are literal records you can look into to discover more about your family For example, when researching with my grandmother, we discovered that our last name used to be different, and there was a misunderstanding of the spelling when our ancestors arrived in America, and so the first letter changed when they arrived.

Libraries and other archives - Once you're aware of some of the dates and names in your lineage, look up their records of events that correspond and coincide with those names and dates.

Monday - Explore your Culture/ Cultural Practices

Research/ New Page - If you feel so inclined, make a page for your cultural practices, and how they influence and are a part of your witchcraft practice. If not, just do some research. It can be good to know these kinds of things to understand oneself.

Practical -If there are nay practices that your culture has, that you have never taken part of, or that you take part of regularly, do it! Anything from foraging, to writing, to cooking, to singing... whatever it is, do it!

Tuesday - Connecting/ Disconnecting

Research - How does one connect or disconnect, depending on the individual ancestor and situation, from one ancestor or group of ancestors? Why do we connect with them? When do we connect with them? Same goes for disconnecting. Not all of our ancestors, or their actions, are worthy of holding in high regard, or acknowledging at all.

Journal/ Introspection - Looking into one's family history can be... heavy. Discovering things about the people we already know, and those that we don't know, is not always a pleasant experience. Holding people in a certain light because of how we feel about them can change dramatically when we discover truths we didn't already know. Journal about your feelings on the things you've discovered about your culture and ancestors. Be honest about how you feel about them, their lives, and their actions.

Wednesday - Honoring/ Disavowing/ Ignoring

Research - What are some ways to honor your ancestors, those worth honoring? How do you disavow, or separate yourself from those ancestors not worthy of connection or veneration? How does one ignore culture and ancestry when the need arises?

Research - Herbal Study - Pick another herb from your list and go to town learning all you can about, magical, mundane and practical uses, associations, and so on!

Thursday - Family Tree/ History

Practical/ Lab Notebook -make a page or get your lab notebook out and make yourself a little family tree or log of the family history you’ve learned. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, thought it certainly can. It can be as simple as names connected by lines. Or it can be a more literal family tree, with branches and leaves. Either way, make it!

Research - Gemstone/ magic/ tarot/ other - make a new page dedicated to whatever topic you’ve chosen to research here. Be it a gemstone and where it comes from, how it is formed and its uses or a specific tarot suit or card.

Friday - Ancestral Work

New Page/ Definition - What is ancestral work? Look up what it is, how it is done, how you already do it, how you can do it in the future, when, where and why to do. Do you already work with ancestors, knowingly or unknowingly?

Here are some links from a quick search to help you.

Intro to Ancestral Work

Ancestral Work

Ancestor Worship

Ancestor Work

Well this was a heavy and full week! Take time at the end of it to rest!

Good luck and happy casting witches!

-Mod Hazel

[lizziethereader]

March 2024 wrapup

not pictured: - Final Offer by Lauren Asher

March was fun! I decided to try to get around to some sequels and I managed to get through quite a few of them AND really enjoyed most of them as well - a definite win!

favorite of the month: The Narrow Road between desires by Patrick Rothfuss

nonfiction of the month (2): Refusing Compulsory Sexuality by Sherronda Brown, Eichmann in Jerusalem: Ein Bericht von der Banalität des Bösen by Hannah Arendt

classics (1): Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

poetry (1): Hardy:Poems by Thomas Hardy

graphic novel (1): The First Cat in Space Ate Pizza by Mar Barnett and Shawn Harris

[nando161mando]

Sheffield Radical Bookfair

@antifainternational @kropotkindersurprise @anarchistmemecollective @radicalgraff @left-reminders