The Very Basics of Not Killing Your Computer

If you have a laptop DO NOT use it on a soft surface like a pillow or on a blanket, it’ll block the vents on your computer and make it get really fucking hot inside.

If you have a desktop you gotta open it up and blow out the dust sometimes.

If you are moving your laptop in a bag turn the laptop off. Don’t put it to sleep, don’t just shut the screen, turn it off, because otherwise it’s in the bag generating heat and there’s nowhere for the heat to go in the bag. OFF. Not sleep. OFF.

Okay I know that should be obvious but drop damage to your hard drive is bad bad news. Be as careful as you can to set your computer gently on flat surfaces; don’t leave it hanging out on a bed where it can get knocked off, don’t set it on the roof of your car. And yes, just dropping it a couple inches can kill your hard drive or totally shatter your screen.

Look I’ve seen four people ruin their laptops because they had a pen on the keyboard and closed the laptop and it fucked up the screen and the keyboard and it sucks so much and you feel awful after it happens because it’s so avoidable just don’t put things on your keyboard and always check that your laptop is clear before you close it.

You’ve only got one power jack and a limited number of other inputs on your computer and if they detach from the motherboard you’re fucked. USB ports get damaged because people use them a lot and eventually it weakens the connection and then they just stop working and it sucks. You can get around this with USB ports by using a USB hub to connect things like your keyboard and mouse.

For your power plug you just gotta be careful. Avoid tripping over the cord at all costs, don’t yank the plug out of the computer. It will SUCK VERY MUCH A LOT if you have to buy a new computer because the power port lost contact with the motherboard.

Don’t move your computer with things plugged into it. Take the power cord off before you put your laptop in the bag, take out the USB mouse dongle, do not travel with little nubby bits sticking out of your computer that can easily get caught or get tweaked or snap off inside of the thing.

(I really can’t emphasize enough that most of the “it will cost more than it’s worth to fix this” laptops I see are because of USB ports and power jacks. People don’t seem to know that this isn’t something that can be fixed easily; a broken power jack is a “remove the motherboard and resoldier components” job, not a “plug a new one in in fifteen minutes” job and most computer repair shops aren’t going to solder things for you and if they DO it’s going to be very expensive)

You should probably restart more than once a month but whatever. This is actually something that I consider part of reducing heat stress because when your processor is straining to keep up with all the background bullshit that’s running from a program you opened three weeks ago it’s going to use up resources and get hot and look just restart it once in a while.

Also the updates are almost always okay and safe and generally running updates is a good and secure thing to do (though maybe follow a blog dedicated to the OS you run because if there IS a problem with the updates that blog will probably talk about it before the update gets forced on your computer)

Yes you should probably be running an antivirus.

Sophos is free and it’s fine. But don’t pay for it - if you’re using Sophos use the free version.

If you’re looking for something paid and a little more comprehensive I recommend ESET - get the cheap version, renewals cost less than the initial purchase, and feel free to get a multi-year version, the credentials follow your email not the computer so if your computer dies before your license expires you can install the license on a new computer.

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON OR MCAFEE THEY ARE EXPENSIVE BULLSHIT. Kaspersky is whatever. It’s less bullshit than Norton or McAfee but not as good as ESET for about the same cost.

If you think you’ve got a virus run the free version of Malwarebytes and get your shit cleaned.

Again this should be obvious and yet. But seriously, just make a rule for yourself that drinks aren’t allowed on the same table as your computer and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

Okay I fucking hate amazon but here’s a thing you should be using, just search the rest of the internet for “surge protector/UPS” and you’ll find something that isn’t from amazon - APC is a solid brand for this.

Basically you want a fat surge protector that has a little bit of a battery backup and you want to plug your computer (desktop OR laptop) into that instead of into the wall. The benefit of this is twofold:

1) if there’s a power surge the UPS will prevent your computer’s power supply from getting fried and possibly frying parts of your motherboard

2) if there’s a power outage and you’re *at* your computer you’ll have enough time to save what you’re working on before your computer loses power (like, you’ll maybe only have a minute or two on a small UPS but that’s still time to hit CTRL+S and keep from losing work)

At a bare, bare minimum your computer should be plugged into a surge protector but NOT directly into the wall.

[we interrupt this yelling for me to tell you that Western Digital has apparently released their new My Passport line and I’m obligated to inform you that you can get a 2.5″ USB 3.0 backup drive with FIVE FUCKING TERABYTES OF STORAGE for $130. Or you can get 4TB for $93. Or you can get 1TB for $53. basically what I’m saying is that it is not only cheap computer season it is also cheap hard drive season.]

[also if you’re getting a backup drive get western digital not seagate seagate fucking sucks and has a much higher failure rate]

Uh, okay, anyway - Do an image backup of your computer every once in a while so that if you get infected or your hard drive dies or whatever you can just restore from backup and move on like nothing happened.

HERE’S HOW TO DO AN IMAGE BACKUP.

You know what is cheap? USB Keyboards and USB mice. You know what is not cheap? Fixing the touchpad on a laptop or replacing a laptop keyboard.

Get yourself a USB hub, a USB Keyboard and a USB Mouse (wired or wireless, doesn’t matter) and if you’re using your laptop at home plug *that* into your computer.

Also if your keyboard on your laptop breaks it’s fine just to use a USB keyboard instead I promise; if the screen breaks it’s also usually cheaper and easier to get a used or inexpensive monitor than it is to replace the screen. Your laptop is basically just a very small version of whatever bullshit is going on inside a desktop, if the peripherals break but the core components are fine you can just use it like a desktop.

Unless it’s a piece of shit that doesn’t have any USB ports or video out in which case you got ripped off, friend, demand functionality in your devices I’m sorry.

/rant

I’m not sure whether I should laugh or cry.

Is OP aware that oh so many books exist on this subject?

And that almost universally the ones authored by people with doctorates in classicism and mythology disagree with OP?

Including the… epic hymn that first told this story? You know what’s in that original source material… right?

Abducted, yes. Demeter mourned? Definitely. Rape, no.

So here’s some info on Ancient Greek wedding traditions which (oh my stars and garters!!) included abducting the bride. With the father’s permission, which Hades got before he took her away.

Here’s a whole book on the subject of Ancient Greek wedding custom and its conflation with funeral rites. (Which sounds a bit like Hades and Persephone to anyone who’s ever dabbled in things like explication and context)

Here’s a link to another book that talks about Persephone’s rise to power as a result of her willingly eating the pomegranate seeds.

Oh shit!!

Here’s a whole bunch of myths and hymns that talk about her Queen of the Underworld badassery!!

Holy pug tacos Batman!!

Here’s another book about the myth focusing on the seasonal religious and liminal rites. WHICH TAKE PLACE IN THE DRY SUMMER (not the fucking winter), which you know if you read a book.Way to go, OP!

All these fucking books!  What could anyone possibly do with them all?!?!?!?! Do you eat books to absorb their powers instead of read them?

A better guess would be that you got into a moral panic over the name of a certain Renaissance statue and maybe after reading three pages of Edith Hamilton or the first paragraph of a Wikipedia article. And then used that to castigate and demean not only the people who actually take their limited time to create gorgeous art but also to denigrate modern day worshippers of Persephone and Hades?

Maybe next time, you stringy piece of over-boiled okra, you might want to take your own advice and pick up a book, instead of reducing the feared and respected Queen of the Underworld who held power equal to or in many interpretations GREATER than her husband into a meaningless pastiche of female disenfranchisement that you seemingly plucked from your own ass.

JESUS CHRIST THANK YOU

I don’t often reblog posts of people getting owned, but when I do…

man the ancient greeks didn’t dare to speak persephone’s name she was that powerful and venerated (they called her Kore, “the maiden”), hades didn’t get that honour

Rebagel for those book links, I find the Persephone and Hades stuff on here fascinating and I want to research it more

Book links, owning and the sheer badassery that is Persephone.

reblog forever

Reblogging for the links until this misapprehension finally ceases.

See also: Seduction and Rape in Greek Myth and Predatory Goddesses, both by classicist Mary Lefkowicz.

EDIT: Finally put together a bibliography of scholarly works about Hades and Persephone with the help of @coloricioso to help refute these old, tired accusations: https://honorthegods.tumblr.com/post/174794576611/honorthegods-hades-and-persephone-side

Hi. I’m a licensed mental health therapist here with a reminder:

Taking medication for psychiatric issues does not weaken your magickal abilities or witchcraft practice.

Anyone who says otherwise needs to

SHUT

THE

FUCK

ASBESTOS IS BEING USED IN REIKI/CRYSTAL HEALING - PSA MASTER POST

ASBESTOS IS BEING USED IN REIKI/CRYSTAL HEALING - PSA MASTER POST

Worryingly Asbetos is being made into homepoathic wands and reki stones. Most worryingly claiming to cure CANCER, which Asbestos causes.

Being sold to many people under the intentions of “bring a bonding action between one and the subject of one’s desires“ and claiming that it’s the “etheric blueprint to correct imbalances and blockages that could manifest as physical disease and to heal cellular memory, one of the best stones for rousing the kundalini energies“  Chrysotile a type of Asbestos is quickly becoming one of the most requested minerals in reiki and crystal healing.  And it’s not the only type of Asbestos being sold as a healing crystal.

Above is Richterite, it’s known to be as dangerous as any of the other Asbestos in the six categories and is being sold to people promising ironic cures for liver, pancreas, kidney or breast cancer.

Above is Tigers Eye, everyone knows it looks cool but it is also Asbestos and although polished Health Protection Agency in the U.K., claim these are still dangerous. 

While some types of asbestos may be more hazardous than others, all are dangerous. Leading health agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the EPA and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, classify all types of asbestos as cancer-causing substances.

The following are all a type of asbestos: chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, winchite, suglite, richterite, actinolite and anthophyllite.

All the identified forms of asbestos can cause asbestosis, malignant mesothelioma, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, laryngeal cancer and other serious diseases and will not cure any form of cancer. Some agencies, such as the Health Protection Agency in the U.K., claim amphibole varieties of asbestos are the most dangerous forms. The EPA has abandoned projects aiming to identify which asbestos fiber types are the most toxic, citing the overall regulation of asbestos and asbestiform minerals as a more pressing priority.

EXCUSE ME WTF

Literally my reaction too, for just $20 you can pay to have a lump of raw asbestos shipped to you to cure you of various forms of cancer.

I don’t know if this is true but kids do your research before you do anything with stones or minerals because some of them can kill.

Aaaand this is one of the reasons why the whole “place your crystal in water and drink the magic water” trend is a bad idea. Like, for any crystal, don’t do that. That’s how some kids got arsenic poisoning recently because the stones started fucking dissolving.

If you’re going to get into crystals for any sort of therapeutic (or even just for the shiny!) purposes, please do some basic research if you plan to be handling them a lot, or using them with clients.

Here’s a fairly comprehensive list of possibly toxic crystals:

https://sacredhealingnyc.com/toxic-crystal-list/

Have fun.

so, handling these gems should be fine. just dont put them in your mouth or put them in something you're gonna drink/ingest.

if you want to use your gem for a potion, just have the gem next to your drink while you're making it, please dont put it in the drink itself.

be safe!

I CONTINUE TO BE TITS DEEP IN DEMONOLOGY RESEARCH:

IF YOU ARE A NOBLE THAT RUNS A COUNTY YOU ARE A COUNT OR A COUNTESS

NOW IF YOUR COUNTY IS ON THE BORDERS OF THE REALM YOU MIGHT HAVE TO DEAL WITH WAR SO YOULL HAVE SOLDIERS MARCHING THROUGH YOUR COUNTY SO MUCH IT BECOMES A MARCH AKA A MARK AND YOU GET UPGRADED TO BEING A MARQUIS

SIMPLY PUT A MARQUIS IS A COUNT THAT OWNS A BORDER TERRITORY

HELL HAS SEVERAL MARQUIS

WHICH MEANS HELL HAS BORDER TERRITORIES

MY QUESTION IS WHO TF IS INVADING HELL

Maybe they're the invaders and Hell was already occupied when they arrived?

DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON RAGNAROK THEORY

THERE ARE SOME DEMONOLOGISTS IN THE 7TH CENTURY WHO IMPLY THAT DEMONS ACTUALLY COLONIZED HELL TAKING IT FROM ITS UNNAMED INDIGENOUS INHABITANTS

THEY DRAW CLEAR ALLUSIONS TO THE THE ISLAMIC/CHRISTIAN COLONIZATION OF THE OLD EGYPTIAN FAITHS AND IMPLY THAT THE CURRENT HELL IS ACTUALLY THE COLONIZED DUAT

THE GOSPEL OF NICODEMUS IS FUCKIN WILD

ACCORDING TO IT SATAN IS A JØTUNN

ACCORDING TO EVERY DEMONOLOGY TEXT I HAVE READ THERE IS LITTLE EVIDENCE FOR CIVIL WAR AMONG DEMONS

WHILE HELL HAS MULTIPLE "KINGS" (ONLY FOUR OF WHOM ARE EXPLICITLY MALE) THEY ALL SERVE UNDER LUCIFER

THERE IS ACTUALLY SUBSTANTIALLY MORE EVIDENCE FOR THE TITLE OF "KING" BEING AKIN TO A CABINET POSITION

CASE IN POINT IS THE INFERNAL DUKE ABRIGOR WHO SERVES UNDER KING BAAL BUT FUNCTIONS AS QUARTERMASTER FOR ALL OF HELL

THIS IMPLIES THAT BAAL'S ROLE IN HELL IS AKIN TO SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR

LE DICTIONAIRRE INFERNALE REFERS TO THE DUKE FOCALOR AS "LUCIFERGE" AND DESCRIBES HIS ROLE AS BEING AKIN TO THE INFERNAL PRESS SECRETARY (HOWEVER EVERYTHING ELPHIAS LEVI WROTE SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH A HEAP OF SALT)

EVERY CREDIBLE DESCRIPTION OF HELL PORTRAYS IT AS:

- HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL

- BIODIVERSE WITH ALIEN LIFE SEEMINGLY BASED AROUND BLOOD AND SOULS

- CONTAINING TWO MAJOR CITIES

- CONTAINING FIVE LARGE BODIES OF A WATERLIKE SUBSTANCE

- CONTAINING AN UNCERTAIN NUMBER OF MINOR CITIES

- SHAPED LIKE A BELL BURIED UPSIDE DOWN IN THE EARTH

HELL HAS A TREASURER HELL HAS A NATIONAL BANK HELL IS ON THE GOLD STANDARD

HELL HAS A DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE THE DEMON VINE IS THE MINISTER OF ROADS

Hmm.. all this is just conjuring an image of Baal and Lucifer in a coffee shop wearing casual business wear, comically small spectacles with a strap and they wanted to talk about hells budget of the fiscal year in a less constrictive environment, cause for hells sake, beauracracy can be a bitch

ACTUALLY ZAGAN IS THE TREASURER AND THEY LIKELY WOULDNT TALK TO LUCIFER DIRECTLY (AS HE IS STUCK IN LAKE COCYTUS) THEY WOULD LIKELY REPORT TO EITHER BELETH, THE INFERNAL MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, OR BAEL, AKA THE "LUCIFERGE" OR MOUTH OF HELL

Yeah you gotta follow procedure or everything comes apart!

LITERALLY NOTHING MAKES MORE SENSE TO ME THAN HELL COMPLICATED A COMPLICATED BUREAUCRACY THAT WORKS WELL FOR THE DEMONS AND ONLY THE DEMONS

wait is this eldritch demonology or what

im hearing a lot of long words thrown around, and frankly im too tired to make sense of them

NO THIS IS JUST NORMAL DEMONOLOGY

@normal-horoscopes​

So C.S. Lewis was right?  Hell’s a place of eternal paperwork, done up by undersecretaries of undersecretaries, all the way up to the top?

IT IS VERY POSSIBLE

is hell a place where people are tortured though? as said in christian theology?

TO QUOTE DOCTOR SAMUEL HAYDEN:

"HERE THE SOULS ARE TORTURED UNTIL THEIR WILL IS COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY BROKEN"

UNTIL SOFT AND PLIABLE AND READY TO BE SHAPED