Pathfinder’s diabolic dragon: they’re technically not a fiend, but they do a really good job pretending to be one.
14.03.2026 12:34
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Pathfinder’s diabolic dragon: they’re technically not a fiend, but they do a really good job pretending to be one.
Phouka, the 326 Phouka (pooka), the. The Irish word "Phouka' is sometimes used, as 'Pouk", or PUCK, was in Middle English, for the Devil. More usually he is a kind of BOGY OR BOGEY-BEAST, something like the Picktree BRAG of the North of England, who takes various forms, most usually a horse, but also an eagle or a bat, and is responsible for people falling as well. Many a wild ride has been suffered on the Phouka's back. It is he who spoils the blackberries after Michaelmas. This is Crofton CROKER's view of him. According to Lady WILDE, however, he was nearer to the BROWNIE OF HOBGOBLIN. There is a charming story, "Fairy Help', in her Ancient Legends of Ireland in which a young boy, a miller's son, makes friends with Phouka and throws his coat over it as it rushes like a mad bull towards him. Afterwards he sees the Phouka directing six younger ones to thrash his father's corn while the miller's men are asleep. In this form the Phouka is like an old withered man dressed in rags. The boy tells his father and together they watch the phoukas at work through the crack of the door. After this the miller dismisses his men, and all the work of the mill is done by the phoukas. The mill became very prosperous. The boy Phadrig became very fond of the Phouka and night after night he watched him through the keyhole of an empty chest. He became more and more sorry for the Phouka, so old and frail and ragged, and working so hard to keep the idle little phoukas up to their york. At length, out of pure love and gratitude, he bought stuff and had a beautiful coat and breeches made for the Phouka, and laid them out for him to find. The Phouka was delighted with them, but decided that he was too fine to work any more. When he left all the little phoukas ran away, but the mill kept its prosperity, and when Phadrig married a beautiful bride he found a gold cup full of wine on the bridal table. He was sure it came from the Phouka and drank it without fear, and made his bride drink too.
A Dictionary of Fairies: Hobgoblins, Brownies, Bogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, Katharine Mary Briggs, 1976. For #BookWormSat #GothicSpring
Though it may seem like inside baseball, it's also an example of something that was developed and sorted out through bitter trial and error - and much conflict and confusion - during World War II.
1. Apparently the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is on its way to deployment in the Persian Gulf, but is still more than a week away.
A meme with the heading “Sorry, I’m booked all weekend.” Below are three vertical panels labeled Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Each panel contains two circular icons. Friday: a kitchen knife icon above a person wearing a hockey mask resembling a slasher-movie villain. Saturday: a kitchen knife icon above a steaming pie. Sunday: a kitchen knife icon above a stylized bust of a Roman figure wearing a laurel wreath. The joke suggests the person’s “plans” involve stabbing or cutting things associated with each day.
Glad to talk to @nickkristof.bsky.social at the @nytimes.com about the way the United States is waging the war in Iran and the questions it raises about possible war crimes.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/14/o...
"The border is a factory for making racism and racist violence."
I realize that to people outside the PNW this is just an interesting news item, but if you're in the PNW, where tracking orca pods is a local religion, this is basically like being visited by alien gods
I'm convinced that the technology of fiction has advanced dramatically in recent decades. The reason a lot of old pulp novels don't hold up (and could be written at astonishing speed) isn't just that tastes have changed—it's that there's WAY more competition now, so modern authors HAVE to be better.
CNN: Trump underestimated problem of Hormuz
Trump: FAKE NEWZ!!
WSJ: Trump's advisors didn't underestimate the problem, Trump kept the smart ones out of the room and ignored what contrary advice he got
www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
The job *was* to wreck and purge, just like Musk and DOGE. All revolutions need these people.
Trump Has Seized More Ballots as Part of His Effort to Take Over the 2026 Midterms slate.com/news-and-pol...
As I put it on the pod, Team USA needs to simultaneously tighten up (DeRosa) and chill the fuck out (everything else)
Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe. We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are. Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Days after declaring total victory and boasting that no other military could match the US, Trump is now begging other countries — including China — to send warships to stop his Iran war from spiraling into catastrophe.
A galactic humiliation.
The bill would have created a new exemption for several highway-related records under Mississippi’s Public Records Act.
Anti-ICE protesters accused of being part of antifa found guilty of support for terrorism in Texas www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
When a federal judge (finally) put ICE officers under oath, they admitted that they are given daily detention quotas and rely heavily on a Palantir-supplied AI tool to select targets, without warrants and without enough evidence to obtain one. They simply go into neighborhoods and round people up.
NEW: Judge orders ICE to release a Minneapolis man and asylum seeker unlawfully detained for 50 days.
In January, Elvis Joel TE + his 2-year-old were arrested without a warrant + flown to Texas despite an order barring their transfer. The girl was later released, but he remain jailed until today.
FYI YouTube is BURYING today's video (and we're dealing with ContentID stuff re: "Melonia" 🤷♂️) so if folks are able **PLEASE** share and 'hype button' this one as far as you are able - it REALLY helps 🙏
youtu.be/qd660Zy2kyU?...
Just so we're all clear, this is a war crime and would be punishable by life or death under U.S. law.
“I don’t want these people, or myself, to be sent abroad to be killed on my ancestral homelands for absolutely no good reason at all,” said Delana Karimi-Tavakol, who joined in a peaceful protest in Jackson, Mississippi, on March 5 over the U.S.-Israeli bombing of Iran.
buff.ly/HiP3v8k
Les Tricoteuses
To their credit, this administration has not even tried to hide its support for war crimes.
So, have astronomers found a supermassive black hole blasted away from its galaxy and barrelling through intergalactic space... or is it just a weird galaxy?
www.scientificamerican.com/article/have...
🔭🧪
The part in blue is a story I am following closely. Trump officials seem to classify David Ellison as an ally, who will alter CNN's coverage to make it more "friendly."
view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/177...
What happens if he complies? What happens if he doesn't? Both are huge for Obanization.
"Silverhawks"
This man's name is "Hotwing."
Y'know, you do you're best to give nostalgic 80s superhero cartoons a break but then you remember stuff like how "SILVERHAWKS" only had the one Black guy and they named him "HOTWING" 🤣
It's kinda funny that they're ALLOWED to say "We're not talking about plans because national security, sorry" and just NOT do these but they CAN'T because Trump doesn't think his own people are really working if they aren't on TV
Game Turns Wikipedia Pages Into Collectible POKÉMON Cards nerdist.com/article/wiki...
"Trump loves claiming his Article II power is unlimited, allowing him to ignore courts & Congress as long as he can say there’s an emergency or he’s acting w/ his prerogative or both. It's a justification Rs have used to justify the Iran War, even though it literally contradicts the Constitution."
This is *insane*. There's an ongoing war and the Secretary of Defense is spending time, effort and capital on shitty punditry arguing for suppressing journalism.