Dark Moon Dragonrider Of The Swamp

looney tunes character with

this exact premise

Candle Safety Rule #2: Do not add flammable items to candles or burn candles with embedded items!

In 2022, the National Candle Association conducted a safety test for candles with added botanicals and reported that the candles did not meet fire safety standards. [Source]

We get it. They look cool, and if you're of a witchy persuasion, they seem like a great way to put together a candle spell. But adding things like paper, herbs, flowers, crystals, or oils to a candle is a major, major fire hazard. They can cause the candle to burn in unexpected ways, experience rapid changes in flame height, put off smoke, throw sparks, ignite from multiple points, or even combust.

I was scrolling TikTok the other day and saw someone burning a candle spell, explaining that the way the flame shot up was because the magic was taking effect and the spell was working. As a candlemaker, I can confidently say that it was actually because this video maker wrapped a very thin candle in a bunch of twine and bay leaves, majorly affecting the flame's behavior.

I never want to come off as the jerk who's poking holes in someone's spiritual practice, but when it comes to candle magic, so many things people take as proof of the spell working are just...totally normal candle behavior. It's equivalent to seeing a species of bird that is common in your area and assuming it MUST be a divine omen. Sometimes you just live in a place that has a lot of crows. Sometimes the candle is just sparking because you rolled it in extremely flammable oil. Look to the mundane solution first, especially when it comes to fire safety or other things that can cause injury.

I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.

Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:

Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.

No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.

So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:

Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:

Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.

Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.

POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.

When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)

If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.

In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.

the kid who replaced his hard G sounds with soft ones, leaving me incapable of thinking of glasses as anything other than jlasses

kid who would holler "DID" any time she finished her work no matter how many times we told her to just raise her hand

kid who began her scary stories with "once a time" and her friend who began his with "paw time"

middle schooler i had during student teaching who pronounced magritte as "mah-gritty"

the kid who said "i got boogies comin out my nose" while sobbing and the kid who said "theres his puddle of cry" while describing a drawing, both of whom i think of when im crying

kid who said that if he was 80 he would get big and turn grandpa

kid who, for no reason in particular, would just say "like a little feet" as a standalone phrase in relation to nothing

kid who called snakes "nakes"

kid who called calculators "cockulators"

my little cousin who referred to anything he didn't have an immediate answer to as "vewy mystewious"