@energisch_

Was mich immer noch verwundert, ist daß diese Störungen immer nur _Sonntags_ auftraten.

Okay, ich kann noch nicht sagen, ob meine regelmäßigen DSL-Störungen an Sonntagen wirklich behoben sind.

Aber nachdem sich gestern der freundliche Störungstrchniker der #Telekom meine Verbindung angeschaut hat, sind meine Upload- und Download-Geschwindigkeiten ca. 8 mal schneller...

Something clicked for me yesterday. I read about #RFKJr 's latest claim that #Tylenol causes #autism when used during #pregnancy , and I thought:

"Hey, I have read something very similar in a German #folklore text!"

And here you have it:

"If a mother uses a spell in order to ease her birth, then the Evil Enemy tries to lure these children in particular. Thanks to this magical influence, such children - if female - are born with the drive to trude. But male children are driven to theft (the 'Bilwez Cut!')."

"Truding" in this context means becoming a "night hag"-type spirit while sleeping who torments and squeezes other spirits (the "sleep paralysis" phenomenon) while the "Bilwez Cut" is the ability to magically cut down the ripe grain fields of others and steal the grain without spotting you. You can read the entire text at the link - though beware, it's full of ableist nonsense.

But now I am intrigued - both in JFKJr's modern claims (and presumably his fellow conspiracy fantasists, although I haven't followed them too closely) and this bit of folklore from 19th century southeastern Bavaria, the basic message is:

"Women must suffer through the full pain of childbirth, and if they try to alleviate this pain, their children will come out wrong somehow!"

Both qualify as folklore, not facts - but I wonder how widespread this piece of folklore was and is, today and in past centuries, and in which countries and cultures. Does anyone have further examples?

#ableism
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Witches_and_Trudes

#WritersCoffeeClub 6.Do you write daily? Why or why not?

Not. I have a busy day job and a few other hobby interests, so I cannot dedicate as much time as I would like.

However, I have still managed to deliver at least 1,000 words of translations and commentary to my Patreon supporters every Monday, for more than six years - so it's not as if I take a lot of breaks as such.

https://www.patreon.com/sunkencastles

The magical tomes known as "Characters" give their owners the power to achieve anything they want.

But, sooner or later, the owners come to a bad end.

#Germany #folktale #folklore #magic @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tomes-of-magic-47102573

They are now saying the quiet parts aloud, without shame.

#USA #GOP #WhiteNationalism #racism
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/09/eric-schmitt-white-nationalism-national-conservatism-conference.html

@LeilahLilienruh

Es ist unterschiedlich. Ich kam mit der Einsamkeit relativ gut klar, aber dennoch merkte ich, das mir was fehlt.

Andere Leute hingegen brauchen intensiven sozialen Kontakt zu anderen Menschen, und die litten deutlich mehr.

#WritersCoffeeClub 5 September. How much should a writer read?

I generally recommend reading as much as you are able - on any conceivable subject, and certainly outside of your genre. Inspiration can be gained from _anywhere_, and the more you read - the more you know - the more will you be able to develop your own style and your own unique ideas and plots.

One of my major regrets in life is that I do no longer have as much time to read as I did in my youth, but I nevertheless try to keep at it.

@mackaszechno.bsky.social

Working on it!

Nixie women are recognizable on the land by the hem of their skirts - which is always dripping wet.

#Germany #folktale #folklore @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/nixies-aquatic-38334925

What topic from German #folklore interests you the most?

Pick something, and I will try to add an appropriate tale from my backlog to the wiki soon (assuming that I _have_ an appropriate tale).

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Main_Page

@belchion

Since I only have one tale of that type so far, it's probably not worth making an entire map for it.

@pauldrye

Yeah, unfortunately the wiki is currently rather fragile when it comes to traffic overload. I may have to read up on optimization for #MediaWiki and/or upgrade my hosting plan.

I think I _finally_ got my basic concept for a new interactive map for my folk tales down. Here is a first proof of concept - it shows only three folk tales so far, but I wanted to make sure I have this working before I add further tales.

This interactive map uses #MediaWiki with the #SemanticMediaWiki and #Maps extensions. I do not actually edit this map directly - instead, it queries the individual wiki pages and searches for pages with the appropriate properties and categories. Right now, the category in question is "Folk Tale", but it will be easy to add maps with more specialized categories such as "Devil", "Dragon", "Treasure", "Magic", and so forth - and I will do so in the future, once I've added more tales with the relevant information.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Countries

Three Miners toiled in Kuttenberg Mountain for seven years - until each of them made a final wish.

#CzechRepublic #folktale #folklore #mining @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/grimm-tidings-1-125996055

@ratsnakegames @krinkle

Success! I managed to generate a map with a map icon generated by a semantic query!

For the next step, I will have to wait until the Maps Extension Wiki becomes online again so that I can read up on their assorted templates - annoyingly, that wiki has a _lot_ of downtime.

But either way, thank you both for your help!

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Category:Countries

@ratsnakegames @krinkle

Okay, I tried it again - with Maps 12.0 this time.

It doesn't create an error, which is progress. But while it displays a map box in the correct size, the map is stuck at "Loading map..."

https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Sandbox2

EDIT: Huh, now it loads. Presumably, it took a while until the leaflet API recognized my site...

Blood will tell.

#Germany #folktale #folklore #Lübeck @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/tales-of-lubeck-27462626

Today I am a #ClassTraitor .

#golf

If someone asks you to get some blessed altar bread for them, you should probably ask a few questions first.

#Germany #folktale #folklore #ghost #ghoststory @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/failed-salvation-47626706