I Got A Lot Of Asks About This So I Made A Tutorial On How I Was Able To Emulate The 80s Aesthetic, Please

I have not committed any crime! 

Dear friends of Tumblr,

Today at my school we had an assembly about internet predators and when I had said that most of my true friends are over the internet and they gave me a lecture about how “I don’t know who I’m talking to” blah blah. So please, if you aren’t a predator in any way, please reblog so i can prove a point.

It’s happy alternative reality that we deserved, guys :’’’3 There is also a bonus of how lil naruto sees all of his nee-chans and nii-chans ahaha

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Top 6 Apps for Learning Mandarin Chinese

Last summer, while I was supposed to be studying French intensively, I accidentally started studying Mandarin instead. These things happen! The best thing about Mandarin compared to some other languages I’ve studied (specifically Persian and Korean) is that there are a huge number of resources available to help learners, including a lot of very well-designed apps. After months of obsessively checking the iTunes store for the best apps and trying them out, these are my favorite six (plus a few more worth mentioning). They appear in ascending order from my least favorite to my most favorite.

Worth mentioning: A couple of apps not included on this list but worth mentioning are Pleco and Skritter. 

Pleco is a highly-regarded Chinese dictionary. I have it on my phone and do use it, but I left it off the list because I prefer another (#6 on this list). Since I’m still very much a beginner, a thorough dictionary isn’t quite so important to me right now. However, it seems like every advanced student of Mandarin recommends this app, so I had to include it.

Skritter is another app that’s highly regarded among serious students. I believe it focuses on helping with character recognition and writing. It has a subscription service that is a bit expensive, which is why I’ve never tried it; however, everyone seems to rave about it. If you’re a serious student, you should definitely look into it.

Also, I recommend downloading some Chinese-language apps designed for preschoolers. I found several of them online in the iTunes store, and a lot of them include short stories with simple words, practice with basic characters, etc. Using these apps gives you some immersive listening practice, which is fun. They can be kind of hit and miss, so I recommend downloading all you can find and seeing what you can figure out and what you like. They won’t replace any of the apps below, but they still serve a purpose.

6. WCC Dictionary This is the dictionary I use instead of Pleco. I like it primarily because of its beautiful design (something Pleco doesn’t really have). This app is mainly a dictionary, but it offers a lot more than that. For example, it has a character scanner (so you can look up words you find in books by taking a picture of the character). It also has a “story library” with a few simple books to read (with Pinyin, the characters, an English translation, and the ability to listen to the story being read). Characters are color coded if you use that as a device to help you with tones. It has a flashcard program with pre-created word lists, extensive example sentences, a section on radicals with example words, and stroke order animations. It also offers a “character of the day” and daily “homework” to motivate you to use what you learn. The dictionary itself is free, but there’s a lot of content that you have to pay to unlock, although there’s also a way to buy the content using “coins” that you earn through using the app.

5. Mindsnacks Mandarin A lot of you are already familiar with the Mindsnacks app because it’s offered for a lot of different languages (and a few school subjects like geography). This app uses games to teach Mandarin, mostly focusing on vocabulary (not grammar or sentence construction). It’s a bit limited, but it can be a really fun way to learn. After a while, the games start to feel repetitive and can get boring, but the app also has you move through levels (which allow you to unlock new games) and uses other incentives to keep you playing. The audio is an actual human, too, which is a big benefit since many apps and programs rely on Google Translate robot voices. This is a paid app, which could be a drawback.

4. FluentU This app is the reason I started learning Mandarin in the first place. I tried using it for French, but I felt like my French was too advanced to gain much from it. Even though there were advanced-level videos with vocabulary I didn’t know, FluentU doesn’t do a good job of adapting to your level and guessing which words will give you trouble. That’s perfectly fine for a beginner, though, since every word will probably give you trouble, which is why I used it for Mandarin. I think the makers of FluentU are Chinese speakers, and they seem to have focused more on Mandarin in their app. They have a built-in course you can follow, using videos they made themselves for teaching the language. The videos are pretty good, and you will feel like you’re learning a lot. There are also a lot of other videos if you want to branch out, including some catchy songs and clips from commercials or TV shows. The built-in flashcard system is a good way to review, but there’s no way to adjust their algorithms, so you might end up reviewing the same words way too often. I stopped using the program when I had 400+ words to review every day, and I just couldn’t keep up and continue advancing. This app is also very limited in the free version, and the paid subscription is VERY pricey, in my opinion, especially considering that there are other apps out there that offer more features. All of the videos are on YouTube anyway, so you can still use them to learn as you advance (or if you have a friend who can help you). I recommend this app if you want to pay for one month and use it to study intensively and advance quickly. That’s what I did, and I think it helped me out a lot.

3. ChineseSkill This is the first app that was designed to be a “Duolingo for Mandarin,” and it has a lot of great features. There’s the typical “tree” like in Duolingo, where you advance through different lessons one by one. It teaches character recognition, pronunciation, and grammar. The lessons can be really challenging for a beginner (sometimes too challenging, I thought), but it covers a lot of material. I’m not completely happy with the order in which lessons are taught (for example, there’s a lesson on shapes near the beginning that has you learn words like “triangle,” which seemed unimportant to me). The other drawback is there isn’t an easy way to review what you’ve learned (like on Duolingo when your gold-level lessons start to fade). It’s possible, but not super easy to access. Other interesting features include a tone game, a pinyin chart, a “survival kit” that’s like a travel phrasebook, and practice with stroke order. Also, this app is 100% free, which is amazing! I definitely recommend this app.

2. Social Language This app is really different from the others and is probably the most useful if you believe in speaking a language as soon as possible. I don’t think a lot of English speakers know about it because it seems to be marketed mostly to Chinese speakers. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try my best: basically, there’s a tree like you have for Duolingo, but the exercises are all to improve your speaking and pronunciation. You work through the lessons, and Chinese-speaking users rate and comment on your recordings. They can even leave voice messages to help you improve. You can do the same for them (in fact, you have to if you want to unlock higher levels). That alone makes the app worth downloading, but even better is that it includes a CHAT FEATURE that makes it very easy to interact with native speakers. You can see the profiles of hundreds of Chinese speakers who are online at any given time of day, and you can send a text or voice message to them and later add them to your friends’ list. What’s more,the ratio of Chinese to English speakers heavily favors English speakers. You will find hundreds of Chinese speakers eager to practice their English, and often you will be one of only a handful of English speakers on the app, meaning you have instant access to a chat partner any time of day or night. Have a question about your homework, something you read, or a phrase you don’t know how to pronounce? Instant, free tutoring is available 24/7 on this app, which is also FREE! I met some really nice people here without the pressure of a more formal language exchange. You can have a casual conversation any time you want, and it’s like text messaging so there’s less pressure if you’re shy about speaking Chinese. The only drawback is the same as with all language exchanges, which is that it’s sometimes difficult to balance the two languages. Also, I had problems with sending voice messages in chat, which can be frustrating. Overall, though, I’d say Social Language is a must-have.

1. HelloChinese This app didn’t exist last summer when I was looking for a Mandarin version of Duolingo, but I discovered it last week and fell in love with it. It actually has fewer features than ChineseSkill, but the pacing seems much better, and it focuses more heavily on pronunciation (though the speech recognition software isn’t perfect and you will sometimes need to skip a speaking question just to keep moving forward). It comes with some good grammar explanations and a really basic flashcard program for review. Honestly, I feel bad for rating it higher than ChineseSkill since ChineseSkill has been around longer and offers a lot more features, but I feel like HelloChinese just makes more sense and is easier to stick with than ChineseSkill. Like ChineseSkill, it’s also 100% free! I consider HelloChinese to be my “core” app for casual study, with the other apps acting as supplements. If you’re a more serious student, HelloChinese might not be your #1 pick, but it’s great for beginners who like the structure of an app like DuoLingo.

Some magical associations for the flowers of @eartheasy’s “Save the Bees by Planting These” post:

Lavender - love, attraction, healing, protection. Thyme - awareness, purification, cleansing. Cilantro - awareness, creativity, communication, success. Borage - luck, power, inspiration, increase psychic abilities. Sage - purification, exorcism, cleansing, healing. Fennel - communication, prosperity, fertility. Crocus - love, visions. Geranium - self confidence, soothes a broken heart. Aster - love. Poppy - glamours. Sunflower - happiness, healing, longevity, prosperity, love. Heliotrope - love (especially homosexual), invisibility, revelations.

Your garden will not only be a haven for bees but you’ll always have access to ingredients to power your magic.

Poems for Beginning Witches

Masterpost for the complete series of poems so far, designed to aid learning for beginning witches. Most are theory, and a one or two are conceptual. The reason for this masterpost is that they’re all poorly tagged

Moon Phases

Color Magic

Water Magics

Charging Objects

Herbs

Fire (element)*

Quartzes*

Witch Tools*

Divination*

Kitchen Witchcraft*

Air (element)*

Tea Magics*

Salt 

Wheel of the Year (Sabbats) requested by @fish-egs

Cleansing (an area) requested anonymously

Calling Circle requested by @dragonrhapsody

Spell Types requested anonymously

*with thanks to @lazywitchling, who helped inspire the second wave!

If there is something you would be willing to see in poetry form, send me an ask or drop me a message! As of 10/3/17, I am all out and no more are queued. 

Things that have been bothering me #327: how do solarpunk and lunar punk societies deal with their dead? Are the people of floating cities set adrift in the ocean? Cremation takes a lot of energy and embalming can damage the environment, and eventually we run out of space to bury people. On top of that, would they even want people being buried, away from the sun and the moon?? Or would something like sky burial or the towers of silence be more practical to them? Who tends to their dead, and what stigma does that have? What does a solar or lunar punk funeral look like? What are their mourning traditions? Are they afraid of death? THESE ARE THINGS I NEED TO KNOW

every rapist and pedophile needs to be beaten and then burned alive 😍👌

Tenets of the Gods

Baldr: The brightness of life. Let your presence be inspiring and beautiful to all. Allow your joy to radiate from within and become your aura. Bragi: Believe in the power of your words. Speak carefully with thought and precision. Let your praise empower and strengthen, and your insults dishearten and wither. Eir: Seek the cure. Help those in need, and offer comfort in whatever form you can. Reject the corruption of disease, any affliction can be treated and healed with the right approach. Fenrir: Destroy your chains and those who forge them. Never be cowed or submit in fear, reason should be met with respect but dominion with insurrection. Forseti: Deliver the beneficial compromise. Let peace be brokered and unnecessary conflict be evaded, good faith be honoured and deception be castigated. Freyja: Bask in your glory and empowerment. Let pleasure be a virtue, and self-determination be the basis of your strength. Revel in your emotions for they are your power. Freyr: Advance the endeavour of growth. Nurture life in all its forms and display the beauty of progeneration. Anything can take root and grow given the right conditions. Frigga: Provide and protect. Let all you care for be comfortable and safe, and no need be denied. The fire can warm but also burn. Heimdall: Vigilance and caution. A misstep may bring misery and an unheard word, disaster. The way forward is clear and danger is transparent, when the time is taken to identify it. Hela: Death is but the other half of life. Let stillness be, and quiet guide your thoughts. Endings should be neither sought nor feared, an end is but the opportunity for further beginnings. Idunn: Wisdom in youth. Let the words of babes ring with your consciousness and seek the truth held in their innocence, ignorance is found in the dismissal of the young. Loki: Freedom in fun and change. Do not be bound by norms and civility, evil is often disguised as order, and the fabricated as natural. The good thing is not always the common thing, deviation can lead to delight. Modi: Evolve and progress. Find no contentment in maintaining a status quo. Each day be better than yesterday, see the good of your forebear and strive to excel further. Seek, always, the betterment of your theory and actions. Njord: Ebb and flow, give and take. Action begets reaction, matter demands a void, for happiness there must be sadness, for gain there must be loss. Balance is a virtue, no one approach can suit every obstacle. Odin: Wise and learned. Always search for the opportunity to learn, wisdom is found in the diversity of life. Give your knowledge freely and be gracious in reception, a mind in isolation is a mind that does not grow. Sif: Be proud and know your worth. Demand your place and your right to exist in the world. Pay mind to fair criticism but reject detractors wholly. Take pride in yourself, and seek betterment for your own sake. Sigyn: Steadfast and devoted. Stand firmly for what you believe, keep loyal to that you love. Nothing worth doing is easy, no worthwhile thing is effortless. Love takes work, and ideals require labour. Skadhi: Justice through vengeance. Vileness be met with viciousness, the unforgivable can not be forgiven, though reason may temper rage. Covert, can be calamity, and war kept for a better day. Thor: Powerful protection. Vie for strength in soul and arm, to protect is to persevere against evil, contest not only in arms but in wills. To bring joy against misery, hope against despair, and a hammer against tyranny. Tyr: Honour and sacrifice. Victory is not always decisive, a small win leads to the larger success, a minor loss can avert the grander. Achievement can come in portion just as well as in entirety. Ullr: Mirth in contest. Appreciate fair competition and find joy in the fight, to train you must have a partner, to win - a rival. In loss be grateful for the challenger and in victory, for the challenge. norsegodcalls These are some personal interpretations of the kinds of values and virtues that the gods each have, written up as specific tenets.

‪We call the sea fickle because in our hubris we assume it owes us favors, much less notice, as it proceeds it’s business and pleasures.‬

They really said that…