tim | Reading

Nice work, team “Peace President.”

Great fucking job.

…

Y’know… that was going to be all I posted but… I’ll go a little further.

One of the many, many post-world-war-II advances in global politics was the idea that offensive war was off the table. Conquest, previously considered a fairly legitimate reason for war, was taken off the table. It had been on the wane for a while, but the Great War had really set it back, and the second one finished it off.

That’s one of the many international consensus agreements Putin and Russia have been trying to destroy. The plan is literally to bring back old-school imperialism, where empire building through military conquest is the literal point. Empire building through force, the old way.

This isn’t “my read” of anything – they’re happy to tell you this themselves, using those words.

That agreement they’re trying to end served as a real restraint on powerful countries next to weaker ones. It actually did. Sure, you can talk about all the failures and exceptions, and that’s fair enough – there were many – but for decades, many decades, traditional conquer-and-annex empire building went off the table. Local self-determination was the theoretical law.

Team Trump doesn’t give a shit about any of that, and he just loves throwing his weight around, as long as someone else has to do the wet work. And now he has an army. Now he’s not figuring out if he going to deploy US military to Mexico, he’s figuring out how much US military is he going to deploy to Mexico.

Even if he threatens the Mexican government into giving him some kind of permission, it’s not going to be real permission, not actual consent – not any more than he gets from women before “grabbing them in the pussy.”

Oh I’m sorry, team Peace President, did you think he only did that kind of thing to women? Fucking fools, the lot of you.

Anyway, maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll end up being a bunch of military strike teams theoretically having authorisation from the Mexican government and with cooperation from local officials, some of whom will actually really want the help. It could happen.

I mean, that’s not showy enough for him and won’t bring the ratings he wants and that is literally what he cares about most, so I kind of doubt it. But if you’re going to do something like this, that would be the right way to do it. You could do that reasonably cleanly, as such things go. It would have the pretence of precedent under the post-WWII-rules.

So let’s hope for that.

Anyway, that’s “fun.”

This might be another event to be ready for, but hold your fire on. Nothing will happen for another few months, but hoo boy, if they go for anything more than the “right way” response, the downsides will be truly immense.

2025 looks like it’s gonna be a real stinker of a year, innit?

Be ready for it.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

sonia

Julia Evan (@b0rk) says:
From now until the end of the day on Friday, November 29th (if it’s Friday anywhere in the world, the sale’s still on!), all PDF zines are 50% off with the discount code WIZARDPDF, and print zines are 30% off with the code WIZARDPRINT!

https://wizardzines.com/

And I say:
These zines are great references for git, bash shell, debugging hard problems, etc. I bought the full pdf set at last year’s sale and have no regrets.

solarbird

Today Anna and I upgraded all the servers in the servercore with MST3K in the background and had some pizza made by Paul and some pie made by a grocery store.

And it was a <em>really nice</em> day.

I am so pleased that (with the help of the Mastodon discord on that server) we got all the server OSes upgraded and back up and running and cleaned up some stuff while we were at it.

Just being able to… get some stuff done without it being a goddamn nightmare or a huge fight or anything. Just mostly sitting around and chatting some while upgrading stuff and getting things that broke working again without too much of a fuss.

could use days like this more often, not gonna lie

how was your day?

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

sonia

It is Time For Our Cockroach Era by Geraldine DeRuiter, November 9, 2024.

It is time to be in cockroach mode. To keep going, by whatever means possible. When someone tries to stamp you out, avoid them with a swiftness and a scurry that will haunt their dreams. [...] For some of us, survival may be easier. If you fall into that privileged group, consider using your energy to remind others that they are precious, and beautiful, and so, so loved. That if they left the earth, grief would drown those of us left scurrying across the wreckage without them.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Here's the Plan to Fight Back by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, November 7, 2024.

To everyone who feels like their heart has been ripped out of their chest, I feel the same. To everyone who is afraid of what happens next, I share your fears. But what we do next is important, and I need you in this fight with me.

Democracy2025

We are the united legal frontline in the fight for people and our democracy. We will fight for people, freedom, and our democracy against any odds. We know the playbook, and we’re ready to fight back.

We Shine for Each Other by T. Thorn Coyle, November 9, 2024.

The world can feel scary, but no matter what happens, I’m glad you are in it. And if it helps, I wrote a long essay about Mutual Aid and how we can show up for each other—especially the most vulnerable among us—right now and always.

On Organizing by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, November 11, 2024.

We must deepen our relationships of trust and care across lines of difference, across coalitions, across communities. That's the foundation upon which everything else resides.

Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do To Counter Fascism by Anonymous, November 21, 2024.

As diasporic rebels, our Jewishness teaches us to rely on solidarity beyond all borders. Our teachings compel us to lean on the community of others to live lives worth living, whether we are mourning or celebrating, or grappling time and again with what liberation should and could look like. [...] 2. Make people soup and do not stop inviting them over for soup! Be a reason for living.

Feeding the Revolution: Crip love, mutual aid, and pots of immune-boosting soup on the stoop by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, November 15, 2023.

“Oh, you want to know how you can support disability justice? MAKE SOMEONE A POT OF SOUP!” my friend William Maria Rain, a true disability justice OG, yelled at the audience at a disability justice panel at the D Center at the University of Washington, circa 2014 or so. Someone had probably been wringing their hands during the Q&A and timidly asking, “Um, what’s a good way to help the disabled community?” William made the answer very plain: You help disabled people by making sure we’re not dying of starvation in our apartments.

And a different set of encouraging links from

muccamukk.

solarbird

November 16th, 2023, was the day I started logging biking miles per hundred on Mastodon. I didn’t check the odometer on the date this year, but it would’ve been around 2940, which means totalling 1,440 miles (2,317 km) in the previous 12 months.

That works out to about 28 miles/45 km a week or 120 miles/193 km per month.

That’s more than Anna and I put on our car combined, which exists pretty much entirely for certain cargo-carrying purposes. Not too bad.

The weather’s pretty good today. Cold, but clear and dry. I should run by the hardware store, pick up some copper and steel wool.

If you don’t know this already, copper is incredibly good for scrubbing oven racks, because it’s softer than the rack metal but harder than food, so it really cuts through whatever might’ve got baked on without scarring the metal underneath.

It is absolutely the best way to clean an oven or toaster rack is what I’m saying. I suspect that’ll be an important tip for some of you today, or tomorrow, depending upon how prompt you are about scrubbing up. 😀

Anyway, like I said, it’s a nice day. Let’s go bike.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird

Do you think calling Cheeto “Mr. 49.9%” would get under his skin?

I mean, that’s shaking out to be his final vote percentage. He still won.

But he didn’t get a majority.

I mean, it’d also work against the “mandate” and “landslide” lies.

Just throwing that out there. Whaddya think?

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

firecat

As my readers might know, I'm nonbinary transmasc, around two years on T. My body shape usually gets me clocked as female, and I'm growing a beard but it's still pretty sparse.

I recently had to have a routine colonoscopy done in the hospital because I have sleep apnea. My medical forms included an option for specifying my gender identity and pronouns. I put nonbinary and "they/he."

So I'm in the prep ward, wearing a KN95 mask, and several nurses are doing things like putting in an IV and asking me questions about my meds and medical history. They are all using "she" to refer to me. I don't correct them because I just want the procedure over with.

Then another nurse comes in, I think the one who is going to be assisting during the procedure. She calls me Mr [Lastname]. Then she notices the other nurses using "she," so she also starts using "she".

After the procedure I'm being taken care of by a different set of nurses. My mask is gone. They are all using "he" to refer to me. I don't know if this is because they read my chart more carefully or if my scraggly facial hair tips me over to the other side of the binary appearance-wise.

Anyway, I found it amusing and interesting.

redbird

I'm posting this in part because I have gotten a bunch of things done in the last 24 hours, including financial stuff nobody will notice unless I mention it.

In a Discord conversation yesterday, which started with people snarking at Rudy Giuliani, someone said something about not just leaving money in a checking account. Now, I knew this already, but somehow last night that prompted me to go look at my online savings bank. It turns out that they now have a new kind/brand of savings account, with significantly better interest than my existing account. (I originally opened that account, ages ago, because at the time the interest rate was better than average interest.)

So, I told the bank website to open a shiny new savings account, and moved some money from the old savings account to the new one, then logged out and went to bed. This morning, I told it to pull some of the money I got from social security when they approved my claim from the checking account at my credit union to the new account. I'm thinking I will wait a couple of days, and move a larger sum, unless I have something specific else to do with it. It turned out, unsurprisingly, that the task wasn't difficult, once I found the executive function. (I usually don't have much executive function left late at midnight, even if I'm still awake.)

Also today I paid bills; did some PT; took out the trash and recycling; removed my somewhat battered Minuteman library card from my key chain before it broke; and made lunch for myself and Cattitude, and washed the lunch dishes, while Adrian was at the farmers market buying apples. (I can probably use the card indefinitely, but may not be able to replace it, because that library network doesn't include Boston.

Listing it like that confirms that yes, I've done a lot, both last night and today.

Current Mood: satisfied

cynthia1960

I have enjoyed Le Guin's translation of the Dao De Jing, and just got a ebook edition of Ken Liu's translation. Once I read his version, it should be interesting to compare them.

solarbird

Hey team.

Been a bad month. But I’m still here, and I’ve been thinking about something and I think I should get it out there.

I think we should hold our fire on the economy with any Trumpy family or acquaintances we might have.

About bad economic news, anyway. Talk about how the economy had been improving all you want. That’s fine, ’cause the fundamentals are solid, unemployment has fallen through the floor, we’re finally seeing wage growth, Biden-Harris actually delivered the damn near mythical soft landing after the COVID economic nightmare and now that Their Guy is about to be back in office, magically the MAGAts think the economy’s a lot better too.

(Seriously: an over 16-point swing amongst Republicans on the state of the economy. Christ, it’s pathetic.)

But when it comes to talking about tariff-driven inflation and mass deportation crashing the farming and construction industries?

Hold your fire. For now.

Keep that powder dry, and wait.

I know. I know. You want to talk about it. I do too. And amongst people who aren’t MAGA chucklefucks, I will.

But to MAGAts? No. Until it actually starts to hit, every day is Shut the Fuck Up Friday. Do not catastrophise, do not predict.

Wait for it.

Sure, massive tariffs and workforce devastation will send food prices and housing prices and gasoline – the one they really care about – and everything else through the roof, but the key word there is will, not has, so I want to… but I will not say it to them yet.

(Prices are already spiking in some sectors, by the way. Just the possibility of another trade war is doing damage, just not in places they see it yet. I bought ahead a bunch of high-durability SATA SSDs because I’m fully expecting Trump to actually do all this shit, and they’re over 40% more expensive than last time for the exact same in-production models, and hon, that ain’t Bidenomics at work, it was the election. It’s adventure times for at least some number of data centres right now.)

So. Why am I not going off about this yet? Two reasons.

1: While I’m pretty dang confident he won’t, he could back down, point at the inflation he caused in specialised areas already and blame it on Biden, then when the tariffs aren’t as high as he was threatening or don’t happen at all he can take credit for not breaking shit and say the mere threat of his tariffs fixed everything.

That’s absolutely the kind of game Team Fuckface McSharttington likes to play.

He can also just not do the mass expulsions and say he did. He did that with “the wall,” so why not this too? I don’t think that’s going to play out that way either, since what he and MAGAttry truly want is an ethnic purge, and we all know it. But it’s still possible.

So that’s one reason, with two examples.

But I think – from a strategy standpoint – the second reason is way more important. To wit:

2: Unless and until it’s happening in ways even they can’t miss, all you’re doing by going off about it beforehand is giving them time to get their defences up and their denials ready. You’re giving them the forewarning to find someone else to blame other than Dear Leader, which they absolutely will do unless it hits them in the face before they’re ready.

So don’t give them that time. Keep your mouth shut about this. Go at ’em for everything else, absolutely. Make sure they know damned well what they did and that you do not forgive them – or however you’re playing it. Take all of that to town.

But on kneecapping the economy in both knees at once? Farm and construction labour and imports?

Wait.

Wait until it’s hitting them in the face.

Then, and only then, tell them:

This is what you voted for, you stupid-ass motherfucker.

Or however you choose to put it. However you’d personally phrase that. Me, I’m out of tolerance and niceties and if anybody complains my response would be something along the lines of “Oh, are you not playing ‘Fuck Your Feelings’ anymore? Did you get tired of that? Too bad I finally warmed up to it. Fuck your feelings.”

You could explain further, if you like:

We told you what they would do, they told you what they would do, telling you outright that little NPC shits like you would have to “embrace the pain.” But you absolutely refused to listen – even to them! – and now here we fucking are.

Reap the goddamn whirlwind. This is exactly what you voted for.

You jackass.

Or, you know. Something like that, only in your own, probably nicer words.

I may be clean out of nice words – not giving a fuck anymore can be kind of liberating, really – but maybe you aren’t. It’s your call. Make it however you see fit.

But either way…

…I’d keep this particular powder dry.

Dry, but ready.

Until it hits them in the face.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

redbird

Adrian and Cattitude made a cranberry curd tart a couple of days ago: cranberry curd poured into a baked crust, the same pastry shell he used for quiche and for the onion tart.

It sounded more interesting than it turned out to be, and we agreed that it was food but not worth the effort. It's impressively pink, but not very cranberry-flavored; the main flavor is orange, from the zest of a single orange.

The cranberry curd involved cooked cranberry, blended and then pushed through a sieve, mixed with margarine (instead of butter or cream). I might have liked a dairy version better, but it still wouldn't have been worth the effort, even if Adrian and Cattitude could eat the dairy version). It's been a while since I bought lemon or other citrus curd, after not finishing the last jar I opened, but I'm thinking of trying again, just for a change.

redbird

I made chick pea and cauliflower curry for dinner tonight, because we had half a cauliflower, and canned chick peas are an easy source of protein.

I thought I remembered the recipe/process for this curry better than I did.

Adrian and Cattitude were both happier with the results than I was, probably because they weren't thinking about what they should have done and didn't.

Things I forgot or mis-remembered: I forgot the flour (which should have been added to the mix of dried spices, after sauteeing the onions).

I used twice as much broth as the base recipe calls for (I was thinking of a rice pilaf recipe), and I think the correct amount would have been halfway between (1.5 cups).

I put oregano and ground cumin in the spice mix, thinking of black beans and rice, and I don't think they improved it. Maybe garlic powder next time? (The spice mix is smoked paprika and Penzey's Singapore seasoning, in place of curry powder that includes hot pepper, plus ginger.)

Also: canned coconut milk is a bit thinner than whole milk. Adrian realized halfway through the meal that we have unflavored nondairy yogurt (coconut and cashew based), and added a dollop to her bowl; that worked well enough that Cattitude and I followed suit.

I originally forgot the raisins, but Adrian is temporarily avoiding dried fruit after dental work, so it's just as well I didn't add them along with the broth.

Raw cauliflower cooked this way was bland, so I probably won't make this curry again.

Some garlic powder might have worked well here.

Also, I am out of practice cooking more than one thing at a time, so I got Cattitude to make the rice, as well chopping the vegetables.

sonia

It is pouring down rain, the way it's been doing for the last day or two. Just now a crow flew to the very top of a graceful, half-leaved tree across the street and came to balance on the small branches, cawing (I project) grumpily. It is sitting there in the deluge, body still, turning its head occasionally.

Usually the crows congregate in groups of three or four, but this one is holding its post alone. Perhaps it drew the short straw for lookout? As the rain begins to abate, it shakes itself briefly, and then comes back to stillness, swaying with the gentle motion of the branches.

It sat there for the duration of the heaviest rain, several minutes. Finally it shook its wings and dropped off its thin perch, gliding away down the street.

brainwane

If you live someplace where there is a regular place a lot of people go on weekends, like a farmer's market or a popular park, maybe there is something of a fringe or liminal area where sometimes people set up folding tables and sell stuff or campaign. Girl Scout cookies, petition signings, and so on.

If you are in the US and you want to meet likeminded neighbors because of the recent election results, and you think there are some of those in your neighborhood, you could drag a little folding table and folding/camp chair out to that spot this weekend, with a paper sign.

I did this the past 2 weekends. One sign just said "Worried about the election? Me too". The other said "Vent about the election; Plan for Jan. 20th". The second time I went, I brought a second chair, so I could invite someone to sit down for a moment to talk, and I brought a few books on politics or organizing that I am finding helpful.

I have now had like 15? 20? meaningful conversations with neighbors I didn't know before.

I also brought bits of paper with my Signal username and the Signal logo and a note to go to Signal.org to download the app. I'm messaging with a few people I met. And two of them have told me about new local efforts I can join.

Sometimes I wore an N95 mask, sometimes I didn't. I don't remember whether fewer people approached me when I did that.

Yeah, maybe 2-3 of the conversations were frustrating in ways that felt handle-able -- a 15-second chat with someone who's glad about the election results, a 10-minute chat with an immigrant who disagreed with my priorities and approach but not SUPER rudely (and he definitely had a point or two that I am mulling over), a 10-minute chat with a person who thinks her own life is pretty unlikely to be affected by what's coming and kept returning to the topic of the Democrats' flaws.

But those experiences were far outweighed by the substantive and useful conversations I've had and the connections I've made. What are some likely risks? What specific things can our households do to prepare? What specific actions can we press our local and state governments to do to mitigate risks to us? And, emotionally, finding someone in person who also feels some mix of scared/wary/angry/sad/determined/grimly laughing/tender and sharing our spirit with them.

Heads-up that you could potentially do this too.

sonia

I mentioned a while back that I've been playing piano again. I'm still at it, practicing for 10-15 minutes every day or every other day.

The book I'm learning from is Mastering Music Level 1A, Versatile Piano Studies for Older Beginners by Janet Vogt. It's well put together to gradually teach concepts with musically interesting pieces. I'm working on the last few pieces in that one, and I have 1B waiting for when I'm ready. I'm moving through it slowly, trying to learn the physical skills to hit the right keys, make the volume gradually get louder or softer, slur notes together, and play chords. Not to mention reading the music.

I had "What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body" by Thomas Mark et. al. for years, but never read it. Partly because the similar book for singers was so dense and technical. I sold it to Powells when I moved. But I got a copy recently via interlibrary loan, and it turns out to be very readable and useful. I might re-buy a copy to have it for reference. I reviewed it at more length.

What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body video also by Thomas Mark. This two hour video is a great companion to the book. I also had a copy of this and never watched it, so I was delighted to find the whole thing on the Internet Archive. Highly recommended if you're interested in good body mechanics.

sonia

I'm going to post this. And I'm going to leave comments off. Because I don't want to argue about it and I don't want to hear about how it's not valid.

I know it probably (heartbreakingly) won't make any difference to what happens out in the world. But it makes a difference to how I see the world.

Via BronMason.
( Links to two letters calling for a recount )

solarbird

HEY TEAM WE’RE BACK

actually got power back yesterday but while a bomb cyclone is not a real bomb it can make a real mess just the same

I’ve got a lot of catch-up to do but we’re getting there. Kinda had to move some network and UPS bits around after coming back up and some parts honestly I’m not sure why. But everything’s behaving today so I think we’re good.

How’s your Friday been?

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

cynthia1960

twistedchick linked to a newsletter written by the former editor of Stars and Stripes about what's facing the US military now with TFG as their commander-in-chief for another go-round. It's grim reading.

I was reading some historical fiction a week or so ago about Desirée Clary Bernadotte, who went from Napoleon's fiancée to an elderly Queen of Sweden. The book was very much like Selinko's classic novel about her from the '50s (a book I nabbed from my mother's library as a teenager), but there's some serious stuff in it about how the post-1789 French military ended up being the tool that gave Napoleon power. Also, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte himself is a fascinating political figure. When we were in Scandinavia in '17 for the Helsinki Worldcon, I found it interesting that the Norwegians still have one of Oslo's main streets named for him (Karl Johans Gate), even though they split from Sweden in 1905.

That's what happens when a history buff that is fascinated by European history from 1789 to 1820 gets thinking about parallels to the current day.

Edited to add: the book is Allison Pataki's The Queen's Fortune.

cynthia1960

Please goddess, get somebody to leak the Ethics Committee report on Gaetz, even though it looks like he's been tossed or convinced to bail out to make it easier to get the rest of the horrible people confirmed. And while You're at it, feel free to get all the dirt on absolutely every one of TFG's chosen minions out in the open so that we can clearly see what's going on. Make that dirt indelible so that it clings to every person who votes to confirm these people.

Part of me is disgusted enough to widen the scope to the D leadership as well. I'm old enough to remember Watergate, and frankly, the R's should have been staked with Mr. Pointy and turned to dust way back then. The D leadership has never been fully ok with the most progressive wing of the party and that gripe possibly goes all the way back to Lyndon Johnson (that bastard, but sometimes he did something good) pushing the Civil Rights Act through when I was a little kid. The D leadership really wants to be center-right, and perhaps the way to get the progressive wing of the D's finally free of them is to get their dirt loose as well.

Things are bad and rapidly worsening, so we don't have time any more to play civility or bipartisanship games.

jesse_the_k

Three reddish-brown oak leaves, backs dotted with dew, rest near my front door. One balances at the edge of the black rubber door sill ramp, while the others splay on cool grey concrete, near the grey-green siding. Evokes, I hope, Mondrian.

( click for pic )

They're hidden now, because of course we had our first snow fall--excuse me, "wintry mix." How's the weather by you?

People who don't wish me any specific harm

Team Trump Debates ‘How Much Should We Invade Mexico?’

Wizard Zines sale (programming)

It may sound odd but

Links: Surviving together

oh yeah, november 16th went by

d’ya think “Mr. 49.9%” would get under his skin?

Receiving medical care while nonbinary: a curious adventure.

getting things done

(no subject)

I think we should hold our fire on the economy

cranberry curd tart

cooking from memory

A crow in the rain

farmer's markets and similar weekend gatherings

Piano books, and a video

Links: Told you it was rigged

we are back up but I’ve been picking up the pieces

Thinking about the military and authoritarian leadership in history

One horrible nominee gone, let's keep going

photo: abstract fall art

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