After succumbing to a fever of some sort in 1705, Irish woman Margorie McCall was hastily buried to prevent the spread of whatever had done her in. Margorie was buried with a valuable ring, which her husband had been unable to remove due to swelling. This made her an even better target for body snatchers, who could cash in on both the corpse and the ring.
The evening after Margorie was buried, before the soil had even settled, the grave-robbers showed up and started digging. Unable to pry the ring off the finger, they decided to cut the finger off. As soon as blood was drawn, Margorie awoke from her coma, sat straight up and screamed.
The fate of the grave-robbers remains unknown. One story says the men dropped dead on the spot, while another claims they fled and never returned to their chosen profession.
Margorie climbed out of the hole and made her way back to her home.
Her husband John, a doctor, was at home with the children when he heard a knock at the door. He told the children, “If your mother were still alive, I’d swear that was her knock.”
When he opened the door to find his wife standing there, dressed in her burial clothes, blood dripping from her finger but very much alive, he dropped dead to the floor. He was buried in the plot Margorie had vacated.
Margorie went on to re-marry and have several children. When she did finally die, she was returned to Shankill Cemetery in Lurgan, Ireland, where her gravestone still stands. It bears the inscription “Lived Once, Buried Twice.”
(via karnythia)
This is not YYH related, but I just felt like you guys need to be aware.
I received a call today from a blocked number, who claimed they were from Windows Security Center. The person on the phone - who had a very heavy accent - said that they had noticed that my computer had been downloading malicious content while I was browsing the internet (which how could they even fucking know in the first place). He then asked me to turn on my computer (which it already was, but that’s besides the point) and told me to click and hold the Windows key and the ‘R; key, which opens up the Run window. He then wanted me to enter the following: eventvwr (this stands for “event viewer” which lets you see info about hard/software, system problems, and security on your OS).
This is where I hung up.
Because, you see, what this asshole didn’t know is that my dad is and IT guy, so I know a few tricks. What he was trying to do was gain remote access to my computer, but do I look like a bitch? Don’t answer that.
Unfortunately, some people are - that’s why I’m making this post, so you don’t end up being anybody’s bitch. And it’s not like these assholes just sprang up yesterday; according to my extensive Google research (it wasn’t that extensive, I just like being dramatic) they’ve been around at least since 2009.
If you want to know what they sound like, click here for a YouTube video of an actual phone conversation between some dude and a would-be hacker (there is profanity).
Microsoft has confirmed that they are a hacker group, and have some preventative tips, though really - it’s 2013, y’all should already know. If you have been scammed or know someone who’s been scammed by these douche bags, click here or here.
Signal boost, or don’t. Don’t let me run your life; I just felt you should be aware.
(via karnythia)
do you have a moment to talk about our lord medusa?
fuck that
(Source: malformalady, via karnythia)
Help Do Something to Change the Ratio! -
Learning how to program computers isn’t easy. For some, it comes somewhat naturally. However, those that make it look easy likely had someone motivating and fostering their education. Too often this is a career path only chosen by men. So why don’t more women pursue a career in programming?
[video]
One of my favorite fairy tale figures is Baba Yaga, an old witch who lives in an enchanted forest, rides a mortar instead of a broom, lives in a house with chicken legs and usually has three magical sons. I have an obsession with witches in general, but something about this old Russian spell caster really captures my imagination.
I think one day i’d like to write about the adventures of her youth. How she became powerful and delightfully evil (although she is good in a couple of tales). So, here you go, young Baba Yaga (who would have a different name, since Baba means old woman. Maybe just Yaga?).
(via karnythia)
Janelle Monáe and Erykah Baduâs âQ.U.E.E.N.â Video Absolutely Rules -
Impossibly awesome.
Fieeerrrce!
1. Write as if your reader is smarter than you. Writers must trust the reader’s ability to read between the lines. I really can’t stand it when I read a piece that seems like I’m being forcefully spoonfed.
2.It lies in the execution and not the idea. You have this brilliant idea, but what’s the point if you don’t know how to effectively communicate this to your reader?
3. Writing is about rewriting. It’s pretty presumptuous to think that first or second draft is pure gold…
4. Get Critiques. Don’t just get your family and friends to look at your work. Hearing “That’s good” or “That sucks” doesn’t really help you to become a better writer. You need to know specifically why something doesn’t quite work. It might also be worth noting that you don’t always have to do what someone suggests. Sometimes these suggestions are out of left field.
Also, when looking for a group check to see if their agenda and goals match what you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re not satisfied with what you’re seeing, you can always start one.
5. Hang around the right people. This should apply to everyone, You want to be around people that lift you up, not pull you down.
6. It’s okay to let a story go. Sometimes it’s hard, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t recycle the characters…
7. Leave your apartment. You have to experience life to write something. Don’t be that stereotypical writer sitting away at the computer and brooding.
8. Get an Editor. Whether you choose to self-publish or go the traditional route, you do need to have it professionally edited. You’re too close to the work to sometimes catch glaring grammatical errors, etc.
9. Treat your writing like a job (that you like!). If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, act like it. Set aside time—whether it’s fifteen minutes, an hour, or a page a day. Some of it most certainly will be crap, but you can always go back and correct it.
10. Read the good and bad stuff. Enough said.
11. You can’t please everyone. Everyone’s not going to like what you write. Who cares.
Dorothy and Alice
“It was all sort of odd, you know,” Alice says pensively, balancing the teacup on her saucer. Picnics are all well and good until you’re forced to walk all the way back to school with a rapidly cooling wet patch on the front of your skirt.
“That is, I believe,” Dorothy says, “rather a prerequisite for journeys to other worlds. Of course, I could be wrong.”
Alice sighs heavily. “Must you always be so literal? I didn’t mean the going there, or the being there, or even Wonderland itself. It was only that I felt so queer once I got back.”
Dorothy hums thoughtfully, reaching over to scratch at the top of Toto’s head. (Technically, of course, pets aren’t allowed at school, but they’d hardly let something as little as a rule stop them.) “Like everything was somehow…less, here?” she says. “That’s how I felt, sort of.”
“No,” Alice says, a little surprised. She brushes a stray bit of hair out of her eyes, tucking it back behind her headband and thinking hard. “Not at all, actually. It was like I was somehow more.”
Dorothy reaches over to steal a sip of tea, lifting the cup out of Alice’s hands and setting it down again after making a face. “That’s gone cold, you know,” she says. “You really ought to drink it faster.”
Alice rolls her eyes. “If I did, I wouldn’t have any left for you to take.”
“That’s true,” Dorothy says easily. “Anyway, isn’t it all sort of the same thing?” When Alice frowns at her, she adds, “The world being less or you being more, I mean. I think you sort of end up in the same place either way.”
“Maybe,” Alice says, taking her own sip of—stone cold, it’s true—tea. “But I think there’s something to be said for perspective, don’t you?”
“Probably,” Dorothy admits. “Though I will say, if one more teacher sits me down to have a gentle talk about glasses being half full or empty, I shall scream.”
“And I would support you in that,” Alice says loyally. “I should scream with you, if you wanted me to.”
Dorothy laughs. “Only if you feel a truly desperate urge,” she says. “And I hope you know I would do the same for you.” She sighs. “Still, it’s not my fault if they think I have a bad attitude. I can’t help it if I’m always wondering whether the teachers actually know anything about the things they’re telling us.”
“Well, it’s not as if you can tell them that you’ve been to a country where the man in charge is lying about his qualifications,” Alice says, and giggles. “Only think of the looks on their faces.”
Dorothy laughs too, but she sobers up quickly when they hear a bell ringing in the distance. “Ugh,” she says with feeling. “We’ve History next, and that always makes me feel as if someone’s stuffed wool between my ears.”
“Perhaps they have,” Alice says, finishing off her tea and packing it away. “Come along, Chester,” she coos, picking up her cat while Dorothy grabs the basket.
“I don’t see why you didn’t just call him Cheshire,” Dorothy says as they start off back to the school.
Alice shrugs. “I think it would have made me feel sad, knowing that he wasn’t,” she says, and Dorothy nods in understanding.
“By the way,” she says, “I’ve been meaning to ask. Have you met the new girl?”
Alice frowns. “You mean what’s-her-name? Susan something?”
“Pevensie,” Dorothy says eagerly, nodding. “I think we ought to ask her to lunch with us.”
“Really?” Alice says, surprised. “I wouldn’t have thought it of her.”
“I can’t be sure, of course,” Dorothy says. “But I got a sort of funny feeling off of her. She’s certainly worth a look, at any rate.”
“Well, then,” Alice says, delightedly. “Look we shall.”YES
That is a fantastic story but, um, why is Dorothy using English grammatical structures when she’s from Kansas?
True! Unless she’s picked it up from her (presumably) boarding school with Alice.
I could get behind a series about Girls Who Have Adventures And Life After
[video]
