Notices by Dr. Zalka Csenge Virág (tarkabarkaholgy@ohai.social)

Another folklore tidbit:

"When trying to get rid of rats, walk around the house naked seven times, and loudly tell the rats that you are so poor you don't have anything left for them to chew on, so they should go bother someone else."

#folklore

People keep saying "AI is a tool, it is better to teach how to use it properly than simply not using it." This feels wrong to me for a few reasons, but I wonder what responses others have to this argument...?

#AI

The most random thing I learned at the 1848-49 Revolution exhibit at the museum yesterday:

Gambling was illegal for the soldiers, so instead of dice or cards, they came up with a game called Louse Run. They would write their names in a circle and then put a louse in the middle. Whoever's name the louse crossed when it left the circle, won the betting money.

Can't say it's not creative.

#history #games

Sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

Unless you are a parent, in which case it is a form of "children are a blessing, you wanted this, you're on your own, suck it up, good luck."

#parenting

There was a short period of time in history when people would unironically say "why are you asking me, go ahead and google it."
(See also: LMFGTFY)

And now we are going back to "for the love of god don't google it, ask an expert instead."

#AI #internet #DumbestTimeline

Two amazing cozy short story and poetry collections I have read recently:

Everyday Aliens by Polenth Blake (an ecologist) is about diverse non-humanoid aliens doing their slice-of-life things: eating, courting, changing, exploring, etc.

Bittersweetness & Light by Anne Nydam is about hope and kindness. It's not cliché or empty positivity, rather a collection of well written stories that have a joyful note.

#books #bookstodon #CozyReads #poetry #fiction #reading #TransRightsReadathon

"My daughter is not bossy! She has leadership skills!"

Lady, this child just shushed me and gestured to me to zip it when I tried to talk to her parent.

That's not a leadership skill. Bossing people around is not a leadership skill.

#parenting

JK Rowling is a Batman villain from Temu

Today on #WomensEpics: Long-Fingered-Woman

Three Ainu epics made it into this series; this is the first one. I fell in love with that whole tradition, for many reasons.

Long-Fingered-Woman is the name of the Ainu spider goddess. In this story, she has to deal with an unwanted suitor, and she does so in a genius way, while staying cool and nonchalant.

Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/04/l-is-for-long-fingered-woman-womens.html

#AtoZChallenge #folklore #epic

Hey, I am now in the "My existence annoys JK Rowling" Club! 😄 Where do we get the badges?

#AsexualVisibilityDay

I just noticed that I passed 5000 followers! 🥰 It says a lot about Mastodon that I wasn't really paying attention to the numbers. (The same number took 10 years on the birbsite and a lot of hustling). I like posting my random parenting and storytelling and D&D stuff, and meeting interesting people. Good for my mental health. Thank you all for being here and following 😊

I told my husband I bought new spicy underwear and he just gave me a deadpan look and said "It has chili peppers on it doesn't it." And that's why we are married.

#SorryNotSorry #image

Flowers for today because we need them.

Happy spring equinox!

#bloomscrolling #nature #flowers #image #FlowersOfMastodon #spring #equinox

So... Hungary just banned Pride.

#lgbtq #queer #WTF #Pride

Just spent 6 hours in an ER (I'm fine) and witnessed, in no particular order:

A nurse bit by a patient

A patient screaming MURDERERS from an exam room

Two nurses patiently dressing and re-dessing an elderly man who kept stripping

Someone yelling at a student doctor about wait times

Urine being spilled on the floor

Someone yelling "the patient made a run for it!"

A patient trying to call the cops on doctors

Whatever we think hospital workers should be paid, it's not enough.

#HealthCare

In advance before April's blog series on women's epics, I am curious if there are any that people know, or want to know about. :)

Do you know any epics about women? Name them in comments and I'll tell you if they will be included!

(And by "epic" I also mean sagas, shamanic songs, monogatari, and chivalric romances.)

#WomensEpics #epics #folklore #mythology #storytelling #literature #image

Also, re: mistletoe

Yesterday I learned that not everyone knows mistletoe is a tree parasite. Which is interesting to me as a storyteller. In Norse mythology, the god Baldr is killed with mistletoe (thanks Loki...). His mother, Frigg extracted an oath from everything under the sun to not harm her child. But she skipped mistletoe because she didn't consider it a separate plant.

Taxonomy saves lives, people. :D

#mythology #MythologyMonday #folklore #nature #storytelling

It feels like these days every time I talk about having a writing challenge, or working on a difficult part of research or plotting or composition, people's go-to answer is "just ask ChatGPT!"

To which my go-to answer is no.

This irks me a lot more than it should, probably. But it does.

#AI #ChatGPT #writing

And today's award for Most Unhelpful Reaction goes to:

"Well, MY child has never done anything like that!"

#parenting #GeeThanks

Alright Mastodon, tell me about your favorite weird animals 😄

#animals #nature #biology