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Nightlife In A Cloak Of Feathers

@jackdaw-kraai

Hello and Welcome! My name is Jackdaw Kraai, Kraai if you're feeling particularly formal, Jack if you're not. Use pronouns as you wish, though I like to stick to the classic he/him, they/them. I'm the writer of the Guides Verse as well, and always welcome asks about it!
Unless specifically stated otherwise, I do not participate in ask games, @ games, or reblog fundraisers on request.
Icon by @eldritchjackalope

For everyone looking for more things related to me and my creations, I present to you: The Short List.

The Guides Discord Server, where you can join up with other fans and discuss all manner of things, as well as talk to me, and be privy to a whole host of behind-the-scenes stuff! Said stuff includes snippet previews from upcoming works, me rambling about lore and answering questions, and general tomfoolery.

The Guides Audiobooks, as recorded by Sam Gabriel. Do you ever just don’t feel like reading, but you still want to enjoy the Guides? Do you know someone who might like the Guides but isn’t interested in reading all those fucking words? Then this is the thing for you. Professional recordings by a professional voice actor, edited and with special effects and all. New recording sessions happen every Thursday in the discord server at roughly 6 PM UTC+1.

The Guides TvTropes Page, where fans work hard to index every bit of the series as best as possible. Check it out for a fun time, and join in if you feel like it! It’s a pride and joy of mine, even though I stay out of the actual work on the page as author.

My Patreon Page, where I post tons of extra lore articles, Karilaa dictionary entries, ramblings on world and narrative building, detailed descriptions of original characters, deep lore on the various deities, a rotating set of merchandise designs that come with every patron tier, and much, much more! Check it out if you’re interested in something like that, and even if you aren't, the tier descriptions are themselves a fragmented story of one of Lukkesh's many, many adventures as Keshiro.

My Kofi Page, where you can support me monetarily. Nothing is obligated and everything is voluntary, but with the time, effort, and heart that goes into producing stuff for you guys it’s nice to sometimes find a tip in the ol’ tip jar. 

If you want to send me stuff, I have a PO box as well. Feel free to DM me for the address, as well as the rules I put in place to ensure that packages reach their intended destination.

Y’all in the American SW and west Mexico better check the national hurricane center and your weather for this weekend and next week.

Hurricane Hilary is about to make landfall and that whole desert area is supposed to get a years worth of rain or more. Death Valley is supposed to get twice the annual rainfall. Severe winds, massive flooding, and landslides are all strong possibilities.

This is gonna get ugly. Please spread the word. This is a majorly anomalous event and people may be unaware of the threat headed their way.

EDIT AUGUST 19th

Hilary will hit the Baja peninsula this evening at a category 2. It will arrive in southern California as a tropical storm on Sunday evening before weakening and moving into Nevada as a tropical depression.

THAT SAID: for the Americans here, even if the storm is “weak”, I want to emphasize that the main danger is rain. We are most concerned about flooding. If you are in an area at risk for flooding, take appropriate precautions as per your city or state officials’ or the noaa’s directions. Even if you end up only being mildly inconvenienced, it is better to be prepared. Go to a friend or relatives house if you live near a body of water or a very low-lying area. Make sure you have water bottles and nonperishable foods. Keep your pets indoors. Don’t wade or drive into puddles.

Anyways, here’s some maps from the NHC

And here’s a link with information in Spanish.

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For those worried about the crew having to do a whole job just for one person, flight staff only get paid for time they're in the air; if he'd cancelled, they wouldn't have gotten paid for zip.

So in other words, he gave them an easy day where they can spend most of it on break, and also airplane staff should unionize.

Also the plane likely has to get to NC somehow so you might as well have fun with it

This is just The Magnus Institute.

Nope.

They have a gas-based firefighting system instead of sprinklers for obvious reasons. It does lower the percentage of oxygen in the building, but not enough to kill anyone.

I found this by googling “Yale library fire oxygen.” It was literally the first result.

Fact-checking is your friend.

It’s true. It’s not the fire suppression system that kills you. The Librarians come and personally murder you for starting a fire in a library. But you didn’t start a fire you say? No matter. You are collateral damage. Everybody gets killed to show that arsonists have no chance of escaping justice

an orangutan traveling at non-euclidean speeds erupts from the aether to clothesline you into another dimension

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god im trying so hard to decipher that last addition and im coming up empty

what’s not clicking

You’re standing at the altar, about to get married to your beautiful fiancée. When suddenly the king of demons bursts through the door of the room, which naturally causes panic. You tried to warn everyone that inviting your sibling to the wedding would mean trouble, but they kept insisting.

which is fine, because love is love, and you’re getting gay-married, so it would be kind of ironic if love was only sometimes love.

except The King Of Demons (his is Edmund) is always late, to everything, always. which is fair, because time doesn’t work in hell, and it’s not like he can just catch a bus. except that you specifically asked him not to do this, didn’t you, because he’s always doing things like this.

He splays out his hands, the light catching on long, ivory claw tips. god, doesn’t he know not to wear white to a wedding?

so many people are screaming right now.

I really really wish I had the time/energy to draw all of it- and in the highest quality possible- but alas.

Best writing on the internet again, thank you inkskinned <3

Punk is whatever the state fucking hates so I'm sorry to announce to the functionally conservative but contemporary punk isn't leather jackets and punk rock from the 2000s, it's hyperfemininity, it's transsexualism, it's kinky leather harnesses, it's polyamory, it's Black female rappers, it's reading books from the library, it's pirating media, it's sharing your Netflix and Prime and Spotify passwords, it's patching up your thrifted clothes with cute embroidery until they're in tatters, it's "borrowing" groceries from corporations that make up inflation that doesn't exist, it's supporting small weird freaky artists on Etsy instead of buying the newest Official™️ boring low effort promotional image enamel pins, it's drawing and writing the raunchiest most disgusting and freaky porn you could possibly fathom, it's showing off your tits or top surgery scars in public, it's cis women packing and cis men tucking, it's dykefags and fagdykes and boylesbians and girlgays, it's paying for OnlyFans of trans people fisting themselves, it's making up new genders and sexualities and romantic orientations and editing whole new flags for them, it's refusing to label yourself for the gratification of a government that wants to know under what misspelled drafty legislation they should legally kill you

Punk is being/supporting whatever the state currently fucking despises and wants to burn off the face of the earth, not whatever you think is Punk Aesthetic. If you wanna be punk just to look like you were born in the 80s instead of actually BEING PUNK by supporting the degenerates and the freaks and the sex workers and the BIPOC and the transsexuals and the faggots and the dykes, burn your fucking $800 corp bought leather jacket because you're not Hobie Brown you're just a fucking poser.

Punk is fighting the system beside the ones the system is fighting against, Punk isn't a Pinterest moodboard.

Of course, you can look like an 80's punk if you like the style, but gods, embrace it in its entirety then. Thrift that leather jacket, cut spikes and studs from cans and scrap metal, embroider patches with the most unmarketable slogans yourself, become ungovernable. And then do punk as well as look punk.

And as an extra tip: always, always, always get any piercings set by a local professional shop instead of, idk, a clairs or your own hand. It ain't punk to risk an infection just for the aesthetic when you don't need to and it ain't punk to get them set by chains that don't care to train their employees in safe piercing techniques and protocols instead of a local artist with a passion.

So what this paint company does is take iron pollution from abandoned mines that are polluting soils and rivers and makes iron based red pigment paints out of it.

Basically they realized hey no one's cleaning this shit up, it's polluting the streams, killing all the fish, making the water undrinkable and there's a huge market for it so why not make money by cleaning it the fuck up?

They remove this stuff by the industrial bucket load from the rivers. The idea is if it's in a painting, if it's in your home, it's not poisoning wildlife.

anyway its cool as shit, please support tf out of these people https://gamblinstore.com/reclaimed-earth-colors-set/

Remember when using these kinds of paints to not pour the water you washed your brushes in down the sink, as it's basically undoing all the hard work. Instead, either pour it over some kitty litter or let it evaporate and gather the residue before bringing it to the appropriate chemical disposal sites or authorities so it doesn't end up back in the water cycle.

A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 
Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 
Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.
Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 
Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees until the edges turn a golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool for about five minutes before cutting the cooked dough into squares. Remove the squares from the warm pan using a spatula.

So I tried this recipe.

And it is GREAT.

It basically makes the platonic ideal of commercial sugar cookies, only in bar form. When I give them to people (which I do a lot, because this is one of those simple recipes where the results seem very impressive), I just tell them they’re sugar cookie bars.

Life hack: add white chocolate chips and sea salt

I made these today for the equinox with sea salt caramel chips and they are simply amazing. Let’s see how long they last with six people in the house!

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Noting for later (as we need more butter for this, and probably won’t do a grocery shopping till the weekend).

The OP version of this has become my go-to cookie for basically all things and I have a whole cohort of friends and colleagues who would murder each other to get them. Haven’t tried any add ons yet, since the base recipe is SO GOOD.

I’ve reblogged this before and I’m reblogging it again because I’m about to make it again tomorrow and I wanted to add my own tale of just how amazingly delicious it. it was SO incredibly simple to bake and with an extra dusting of brown sugar on top and served warm and soft they gift you with the taste of the nectar of the gods when paired with a small glass of milk. this image is from when I first made them a couple years ago:

GO. MAKE THESE !!!!

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Needed to make a dessert in a hurry to bring to Thanksgiving, and this recipe worked excellently. I did not have the right kind of sugar for the topping, so instead I used a packet of lemonade powder, which gave it a nice citrusy zing.

Making these for myself as a reward for doing the no fun thing I’ve been putting off. Added half a lemon of lemon juice and a bit more flour. Let’s see how it turns out. >:3

Verdict: tasty.

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These are really, really good, btw. (sorry, no pics…) :/

want your favorite author to update but don’t want to be too pushy in their comment section?

here’s 5 things you can do to encourage them:

  • Reblog their fic link on tumblr (bonus if it’s with tags)
  • Bookmark the fic with a note about what you’re excited about/love in the fic
  • Recommend the fic to your friends or local discord channel
  • Draw art or create other media for the fic (as indicated by the author’s comfort level)
  • Leave them a comment when re-reading about the parts of the chapter/story that stood out to you the second time
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July 25, 2023 - Striking stuntman Mike Massa walks in the SAG-AFTRA picket line while on fire. [video]

So, so, so badass.  What a chillingly powerful message this sends.  People have been lighting themselves on fire as a form of protest for centuries, but this might be the first time it’s been done by a professional who knows what he’s doing while under the supervision of professionals who know what they’re doing.

not as an act of self-destruction but as a display of skill

I'm in awe

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

  1. The protagonist isn’t always right
  2. The protagonist isn’t always good
  3. The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable
  4. The narrator isn’t always right
  5. The narrator isn’t always good
  6. The narrator isn’t always telling the truth
  7. The narrator isn’t always the author
  8. The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap
  9. Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say
  10. Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say
  11. A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books

One more:

12. The antagonist isn’t always telling the truth

So many times I have seen people apparently just … forget that it’s possible for fictional characters to be (a) mistaken or (b) lying, and say things like “we know this to be true because [character] said so here” (or, worse, “this fact is canon because [character] said it”).

The antagonist isn’t always telling the truth, the protagonist isn’t always telling the truth, the secondary and minor characters aren’t always telling the truth, the narrator may be telling the truth but if the narrator is also a character in the story then don’t count on it.