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  I just realized that I have the perfect anti-AI story: King Cormac and the Silver Branch It's an Irish legend about a wise king who is visited by a mysterious otherworldly stranger bearing a silver branch with golden apples. Shaking the branch produces such a wonderful music that people immediately forget their pain and sorrows and daily worries. King Cormac covets the branch, and is willing to pay whatever price the stranger sets for it. 1/3 #AI #folklore #legends #mythology

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  As a parent who has been living in blessed ignorace of Paw Patrol, today I took the kid to her first cinema experience to see Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie. And I'm making this everyone's problem because I have So. Many. Questions. Luckily I was taking notes. Thread 🧵 #parenting #PawPatrol #cinemastodon

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  One of the Budapest subways got shut down today... because a boar walked in. It happened downtown, at the Parliament station. This is not a metaphor. No one knows where the boar came from 😆 #Budapest #Hungary #PublicTransport

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  The Millennial experience: Your parents then: "You don't need to buy all the plastic crap you see in the shop! And you should spend less time on the computer!" Your parents now: *Spend all their time on Temu and ChatGPT* #millennial

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  I don't know who's following the news, but the Danube and other rivers are at an all time low in Hungary. A whole lot of stuff is coming to light. So far people have found a Roman gravestone, mammoth bones, an 18th century fortress, several ships and boats, a WWII German motorbike, at least one stolen car, two discarded guns, and a whole lot of wartime explosives and ammo. What a time to be mudlarking. #Danube #drought #ClimateChange #Hungary

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  In Hungarian, the equivalent of "woke up on the wrong side of the bed" (as in, having a grumpy day) is "Peed on nettles" 😄 #Hungary #linguistics

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  No, actually, I'm not done. The more I think about this the angrier I get. I have gone to great lengths to find books before. International inter-library loan. Expensive purchases. Second-hand bookshop deep dives. Orders and delivery helped by international friends. I located out-of-print folklore collections. Women's autobiographies. Queer history. Travel diaries. It was a challenge and I love the treasures I found. Destroying books to feed AI is evil. #AI #books #bookstodon

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  Hungary is experiencing unprecedented drought and heat. Meantime, the neighbor just dug a gigantic garden pond, then a 200ft deep well to fill the pond, then put down a few strands of reed around the pond that he now waters from a hose every day. The rest of the garden is bare. Oh also, we live on top of a hill. #WTF #climate #drought

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  Another parenthood thing no one warned me about: How many random strangers on the street/bus/train try to hand food to your child without asking. Like, a handful of meatloaf just now. What the hell, people. #parenting #WTF

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  So, apparently AI companies are now buying up books and destroying them after feeding the content into the machines. Straight up distopian. 😡😡🤬 1. Libraries and archives have to be protected at all costs, now more than ever. 2. Buying up out of print books related to your special interests is now a public service. #AI #books #bookstodon

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  "It's a dog eat dog world", said the 20-something dude who jumped on the bus before us and took the seat before we got there with the toddler. Should I let my daughter maul him?... #parenting #travel

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  I would like to introduce everyone to some excellent pebbles from Crete. #pebbles #image #beach #Crete

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  "Mom, can I tell you a story?" "Sure honey, I'd love that." "BUT I DON'T WANNAAA!" ... anyway, how is everyone's summer vacation going? 😅 #parenting

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  New #ToddlerDnD Feat: Intrusive Thought Once per scene (in combat, per round) Toddler class characters are mandated to roll D10 based on the Intrusive Thought Random Table, and immediately act upon the results of the roll. 1. Lick nearest object 2. Throw nearest object 3. Pee! 4. Stare intensely at nearest object for 60 seconds 5. Bite nearest creature 6. Stick nearest object in nose 7. Eat dirt 8. Fart dance! 9. Grab sensitive body part of party member 10. Jump into nearest trap #parenting

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  This plane tree in the village of Krasi, central Crete, is more than 2000 tears old. It was stunning to see it in person! Imagine the history... #image #nature #tree #ThickTrunkTuesday #trees #Crete #Greece

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  I'm over the whole "how important women are in the Odyssey" debate, and I don't care whether Nolan made their role better or worse. Honestly I don't mind that the Odyssey is about Odysseus. Duh. What I do mind is that people can still cash in big on a 24536th Odyssey adaptation, instead of adapting any of the DOZENS of amazing epics that ARE about women. (Publishers keep telling me underrated Greek myths are not marketable because "everyone wants the popular ones&qu...

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  New #ToddlerDnD spell: INTERVENTION Casting time: 2 hours (5 if at night) Range: Self Duration: Varies Verbal component: A parent uttering the words "date night tomorrow" This spell generates an immediate mystery illness, non-threatening but enough for Toddler character to require a Long Rest at home. Effects last until the possibility of free time for date night has passed. #parenting #DnD #ttrpg

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  Here is your friendly #StorytellingPSA that counting a story a part of "world literature" from the point when (or if) it was written down is a very colonial attitude. #mythology #storytelling #epics

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  Today I've been told "this comes with age" by a doctor for the first time 😅😅 Please send comfort animals #adulting

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  Part of why I'm baffled and outraged by #AI is because I'm a traditional storyteller. The stories I tell are fascinating to me because they have been told by countless generations. Shaped by every single person who passed them on. In spoken word, person to person, retelling them in the moment with deep attention to their audience's moods and needs. The stories kept changing but they changed through human connection. Stories are not "content" or "text". They are c...

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  #StorytellingPSA: The princess with the pea was faking it. In the folktale Andersen based his story on, the girl (a miller's daughter) knows she is being tested for royal blood, so she pretends to be overly sensitive. It's a female-protagonist version of Puss in Boots, basically. "But that's cheating!" Yeah. This is what you get when you put people through blood purity tests instead of paying attention to what kinda person they are. #folklore #folktales

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  This at the zoo, out of all places Ősemberbarlang Prehistoric man cave #image #history

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  Playing Goat Crashers with teenagers is the best kind of RPG experience 🤣🐐🐐🐐 (Note: Goat Crashers is a one-page simple tabletop role-playing game, in which every character is a different type of goat, and their goal is to crash a party for humans) #ttrpg #gaming #SummerCamp #goat

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  I have decided that my favorite place in Stockholm is Waldemarsudde. It's the former mansion of Prince Eugen (1865-1947) who quit military school to pursue a passion of art and gardening. He was a patron to artists, held liberal views, and remained a lifelong (probably queer) bachelor. He left his estate to the state to become a museum. They have a stunning exhibit of flowers in art and in the prince's own garden. Lovely, lovely place. #Sweden #Stockholm #travel #art #nature #history #i...

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  I know I should be sharing all the tourist photos from Stockholm but honestly I found this leaf so you need to see this leaf. #leaf

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  Do people who are losing their absolute shit over Elliot Page being Achilles "just because of accuracy" know that in mythology Achilles was raised disguised as a girl among women to avoid going to war?... #mythology #Odyssey #storytelling #ChillTheHellOut

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  Here's another gem from the collection of poetry by Arab women. This one was written by Hamda bint Ziyad (12th century), who wrote love poems to women. "The tongue-stingers want to split us up, though we’ve done them no harm. They deafen us with their gossip and no one can unmouth them. So we stormed them with your eyes and my tears, and finished them off with sword, fire and flood." #poetry #poem #WomensHistory #books #queer #literature

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  I'm reading a book of classical poems by Arab women, and found this gem from some 1000 years ago: "Leave me alone, you’re not my equal, you’re not a man of the world nor a man of faith, yet you want to own me, you mindless twit." (by Umm Ja'far bint Ali) That's it. That's the whole poem. #poetry #poem #WomensHistory #women #literature #art #bookstodon

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  It's #WerewolfWednesday, and I have a story I really wanna share: In 1691 an 80-something Livonian man named Old Thiess was called to court as a witness in a theft case. As he was sworn in, another witness laughed: "How can he swear a holy oath when everyone knows he is a werewolf?" The judges immediately forgot about the thief and put Old Thiess on trial. He calmly admitted that yes, indeed he was a werewolf. 1/6 #folklore #werewolves

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  The Hungarian version of "the tables have turned" is "the ice cream licked back." 🍦 #Hungary #language