Silver Adept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
silveradept) wrote2020-10-05 09:49 pm
silveradept) wrote2020-10-05 09:49 pm
Just posting a thing to get it off the queue - September-October 02020
Let us begin. This time, with a thread about hitting the wall that happens about six months into a severe change, and keeping going through that time all the same, but being nice to yourself about the fact that you've hit a wall and that it will eventually go away by itself as you go along.
The Onion's satirical photograph and headline of the Notorious RBG's request to get some work done before being buried, because we know that, if she were capable of doing so, she probably would try to get some work done before being buried or sent on for final judgment.
A chapter from Solutions and other Problems, Allie Brosh's second book. About a small child who finds all the ways she can to try and learn more about the neighbor. Accompanying this story is an interview with Allie about her long absence from the eyes of her fans.
Proposed reforms to make it easier for people to transition and receive a legal recognition of their gender in the UK have been scrapped. The article contains quotes from TERFs and their organizations, and some statements from the Equalities minister that are disingenuous. As a palate-cleanser, an interview where Judith Butler refuses to accept the grounds the questions asked of her are laying on, and steadfastly reframes and points out the assumptions behind the questions.
The idea of the "macaroni", a satirically effeminate man obsessed with fashion and potentially other men. Which shows you that making fun of men for not behaving like grunting fools who have more muscles than brains has been around for a very long time. Then again, when those supposed paragons of humanity end up firing explosives into their genitals amd sparking wildfires, maybe there should be a bigger and wider-spread rethinking of masculinity.
Having married a Black woman, Prince Harry is now starting to understand the amounts of privilege and discrimination that is bound up in how the world operates. One hopes that his journey continues and he becomes an advocate willing to use his privilege and wealth to empower black women and make changes in their lives.
The Led By Donkeys group projected onto the lawn of the golf course the Current Administrator still owns in Scotland the story of how many times he's gone golfing while there's been a pandemic on. There are several efforts underway to avert the situation of a second term, andmorgandawn has collected several of them that involve writing and/or texting.
With an election upcoming, the Current Administrator refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in case of his defeat. In this world, he could be serious, he could be doing it just to get camera attention, but the fact that he even entertains the idea, for any reason at all, is more evidence that some people really are willing to throw away everything to get the sole single thing they want: A Court that will allow them to implement the Past That Never Was, properly this time, and have it stand up against the flood of challenges. For people who are uninterested in that, and are concerned about the idea of not going away peacefully, there's some advice about preventing the unelected from holding on to any power they claim to have, which might involve trying to get as many already-elected on board with the idea of waiting until all the votes are counted before making any decisions about who has been elected, regardless of what anyone might say around the time of that election.
For this particular person, he's been hard to get a read on whether he's not really serious about many things, but wants to appear so, or whether he's serious about it and just hasn't been competent enough to execute. (With more data available now, the likelihood that he's committed at least some form of tax fraud has jumped significantly.) Which leads to people speculating both that the Strongman Fallacy is in effect, and that his position is far weaker in reality than he wants us to believe (and therefore, if the advice above is followed about not giving him any power or an inch of doing what he wants, he'll collapse in short order) or whether the wargamers considering what kinds of civil conflicts could arise depending on the results are warranted in their forecasting decisions and ideas.
And then the continued flouting of precautions finally caught up to the Current Administrator, and more than a few of his trusted advisors. While initial tests of Mr. and Dr. Biden have proven negative, there's still a significant amount of caution necessary to ensure that they haven't been infected because the anti-mask attitudes of this administration and their complete willingness to infect others.
So get your booty to the polls, say several exotic dancers. To try and stave off the idea that someone might try to take an election they haven't earned. And for some people, because voter intimidation is absolutely a thing they will engage in, the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection offers fact sheets about the unlawfulness of any entity that claims it has legal authority or that engages in voter intimidation or misrepresentation of themselves as a lawful authority.
A columnist suggests great freedom is to be found in women deciding they no longer give a fuck about being liked. And while there's a argument to the idea of people being honest (as much as they like) with their opinions and without caring as much about whether it gains or loses them friendships for it, the complications of "well, who gets punished when a woman has an opinion and isn't afraid to state it?" in our current society make it a lot less easy for someone to say what they're thinking, because all of those things come with consequences, and the atmosphere of misogyny almost guarantees someone who speaks her mind with be called a bitch and a harridan and no self-respecting man should ever try to do anything but conquer her and transform her, through violence, if necessary, into a woman who has no power but that a man grants it to her for temporary use. The allure of the Past That Never Was is very strong to a lot of men, who imagine themselves the unquestioned conquerors of everything and everyone. And they tend to think of women as potential muses until they outlive their muse-selves, at which point they expect those women to disappear entirely from the public sphere. Many of those muses go on to be good and recognized in their own right.
Yet another potential consequence of Brexit could include many thousands of trucks with goods being delayed over permitting to continue on to Europe. And expect the government to blame it on Europe, rather than themselves.
As evidence for aerosolized transmission of SARS-CoV-2 increases, the precautions a person can take against getting it are still relatively the same - wear your mask, keep your distance, and cycle through new or filtered air as much as possible. For a brief and shining moment, the CDC said that they believed in aerosol transmission, but that guidance was yanked and claimed to be an error. Given the way that this administration is trying to run things, the disclaimer that there was no political pressure involved in the reversal of the guidance update is highly suspect, especially because the new guidance would be in line with a conclusion being drawn that aerosol transmission is both possible and likely.
More data about masks designed for exercise and outdoor use - they're probably fine, so long as they're good masks, and more layers is better.
When encouraged to go out more and eat out in crowded and enclosed spaces, people in the UK did that - and look, their SARS-CoV-2 infection case numbers climbed precipitously. Correlation is not causation, of course, but it does seem like the incentives on offer were geared specifically toward producing situations where infection risks would be higher.
Selections from a book about most unusual books, the endearing legacy of Charles Addams' most famous family (which, to me, is mostly "the Addams family is the closest anyone has ever gotten to a good, loving family that engages in responsible parenting and has parents who clearly love each other"), one take on the Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition at the National Gallery in London that focuses on the parallels and return to particular subjects, and another that looks at the skill of juxtaposing similar images into the same gallery to tell the story of the artist.
In science and technology, NASA wants to put a woman on the moon by 2024. Which is great. I'd love to see NASA put an all-women team on the moon by 2024, because there are definitely enough qualified astronauts to do it with.
The story of how the noise and interference from a CRT starting up regularly knocked offline an entire Welsh village's broadband access.
Zambian "stealth sci-fi" takes the Arthur C. Clarke Award, with Namwali Serpell's The Old Drift capturing the prize. You can read the discussion of the shortlist, where there's some discussion about making sure the science fiction definition stays open and wide, so that there isn't the problem of not recognizing a good science fiction book because it doesn't conform to a narrow definition. Not that some other award might occasionally have trouble with spotting something that's clearly part of the sphere because it might mean admitting the world is more expansive than they want to. Although, more and more, the winners of the awards are calling for accountability and fixing the things that have, in the past, been there and known but not fixed. (The 2020 Hugo award speeches, transcribed.) As well as those asked to keynote talking about their genre (romance, in this case) being both about the escape from reality and the thing to demand of reality, because people who have been denied their happily-ever-after deserve one. And for a lot of groveling to happen.
The winner heard that the police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor received no charges related to the murder and announced a donation of the entire prize money to bail funds for protesters. (An officer was charged with, essentially, a property crime about firing bullets where other people might have been hurt, but no murder, manslaughter, or other people crimes related to the killing.)
Since Sadiq Khan became mayor of London, the air quality in the city has improved dramatically, with further expansions of ultra-low emissions zones scheduled to happen in 2021 that will likely increase the air quality further.
Last for tonight, The JoyFest, which celebrates characters of color.
And a prayer that offers respite, if not hope, and reaffirms to us that even when everything is falling down around our ears, we are still worthy beings. Finding that core of "I am worthy" is, to put it mildly, difficult, especially since I spend a significant amount of time not really believing in my own worthiness, except as it relates to other people. Because that's easier to see. It's much harder to draw the throughline that says "you keep doing these things, and they go well, for the most part, and even when you're angry or scared or not on top of your game, it mostly means that things aren't going your way, but the core of you, that person abides, and, eventually, you'll go back to being that person instead of the role you are acting now."
Because everyone makes compromises, and sometimes, that compromise is exactly the right decision.
The Onion's satirical photograph and headline of the Notorious RBG's request to get some work done before being buried, because we know that, if she were capable of doing so, she probably would try to get some work done before being buried or sent on for final judgment.
A chapter from Solutions and other Problems, Allie Brosh's second book. About a small child who finds all the ways she can to try and learn more about the neighbor. Accompanying this story is an interview with Allie about her long absence from the eyes of her fans.
Proposed reforms to make it easier for people to transition and receive a legal recognition of their gender in the UK have been scrapped. The article contains quotes from TERFs and their organizations, and some statements from the Equalities minister that are disingenuous. As a palate-cleanser, an interview where Judith Butler refuses to accept the grounds the questions asked of her are laying on, and steadfastly reframes and points out the assumptions behind the questions.
The idea of the "macaroni", a satirically effeminate man obsessed with fashion and potentially other men. Which shows you that making fun of men for not behaving like grunting fools who have more muscles than brains has been around for a very long time. Then again, when those supposed paragons of humanity end up firing explosives into their genitals amd sparking wildfires, maybe there should be a bigger and wider-spread rethinking of masculinity.
Having married a Black woman, Prince Harry is now starting to understand the amounts of privilege and discrimination that is bound up in how the world operates. One hopes that his journey continues and he becomes an advocate willing to use his privilege and wealth to empower black women and make changes in their lives.
The Led By Donkeys group projected onto the lawn of the golf course the Current Administrator still owns in Scotland the story of how many times he's gone golfing while there's been a pandemic on. There are several efforts underway to avert the situation of a second term, and
morgandawn has collected several of them that involve writing and/or texting.With an election upcoming, the Current Administrator refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in case of his defeat. In this world, he could be serious, he could be doing it just to get camera attention, but the fact that he even entertains the idea, for any reason at all, is more evidence that some people really are willing to throw away everything to get the sole single thing they want: A Court that will allow them to implement the Past That Never Was, properly this time, and have it stand up against the flood of challenges. For people who are uninterested in that, and are concerned about the idea of not going away peacefully, there's some advice about preventing the unelected from holding on to any power they claim to have, which might involve trying to get as many already-elected on board with the idea of waiting until all the votes are counted before making any decisions about who has been elected, regardless of what anyone might say around the time of that election.
For this particular person, he's been hard to get a read on whether he's not really serious about many things, but wants to appear so, or whether he's serious about it and just hasn't been competent enough to execute. (With more data available now, the likelihood that he's committed at least some form of tax fraud has jumped significantly.) Which leads to people speculating both that the Strongman Fallacy is in effect, and that his position is far weaker in reality than he wants us to believe (and therefore, if the advice above is followed about not giving him any power or an inch of doing what he wants, he'll collapse in short order) or whether the wargamers considering what kinds of civil conflicts could arise depending on the results are warranted in their forecasting decisions and ideas.
And then the continued flouting of precautions finally caught up to the Current Administrator, and more than a few of his trusted advisors. While initial tests of Mr. and Dr. Biden have proven negative, there's still a significant amount of caution necessary to ensure that they haven't been infected because the anti-mask attitudes of this administration and their complete willingness to infect others.
So get your booty to the polls, say several exotic dancers. To try and stave off the idea that someone might try to take an election they haven't earned. And for some people, because voter intimidation is absolutely a thing they will engage in, the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection offers fact sheets about the unlawfulness of any entity that claims it has legal authority or that engages in voter intimidation or misrepresentation of themselves as a lawful authority.
A columnist suggests great freedom is to be found in women deciding they no longer give a fuck about being liked. And while there's a argument to the idea of people being honest (as much as they like) with their opinions and without caring as much about whether it gains or loses them friendships for it, the complications of "well, who gets punished when a woman has an opinion and isn't afraid to state it?" in our current society make it a lot less easy for someone to say what they're thinking, because all of those things come with consequences, and the atmosphere of misogyny almost guarantees someone who speaks her mind with be called a bitch and a harridan and no self-respecting man should ever try to do anything but conquer her and transform her, through violence, if necessary, into a woman who has no power but that a man grants it to her for temporary use. The allure of the Past That Never Was is very strong to a lot of men, who imagine themselves the unquestioned conquerors of everything and everyone. And they tend to think of women as potential muses until they outlive their muse-selves, at which point they expect those women to disappear entirely from the public sphere. Many of those muses go on to be good and recognized in their own right.
Yet another potential consequence of Brexit could include many thousands of trucks with goods being delayed over permitting to continue on to Europe. And expect the government to blame it on Europe, rather than themselves.
As evidence for aerosolized transmission of SARS-CoV-2 increases, the precautions a person can take against getting it are still relatively the same - wear your mask, keep your distance, and cycle through new or filtered air as much as possible. For a brief and shining moment, the CDC said that they believed in aerosol transmission, but that guidance was yanked and claimed to be an error. Given the way that this administration is trying to run things, the disclaimer that there was no political pressure involved in the reversal of the guidance update is highly suspect, especially because the new guidance would be in line with a conclusion being drawn that aerosol transmission is both possible and likely.
More data about masks designed for exercise and outdoor use - they're probably fine, so long as they're good masks, and more layers is better.
When encouraged to go out more and eat out in crowded and enclosed spaces, people in the UK did that - and look, their SARS-CoV-2 infection case numbers climbed precipitously. Correlation is not causation, of course, but it does seem like the incentives on offer were geared specifically toward producing situations where infection risks would be higher.
Selections from a book about most unusual books, the endearing legacy of Charles Addams' most famous family (which, to me, is mostly "the Addams family is the closest anyone has ever gotten to a good, loving family that engages in responsible parenting and has parents who clearly love each other"), one take on the Artemisia Gentileschi exhibition at the National Gallery in London that focuses on the parallels and return to particular subjects, and another that looks at the skill of juxtaposing similar images into the same gallery to tell the story of the artist.
In science and technology, NASA wants to put a woman on the moon by 2024. Which is great. I'd love to see NASA put an all-women team on the moon by 2024, because there are definitely enough qualified astronauts to do it with.
The story of how the noise and interference from a CRT starting up regularly knocked offline an entire Welsh village's broadband access.
Zambian "stealth sci-fi" takes the Arthur C. Clarke Award, with Namwali Serpell's The Old Drift capturing the prize. You can read the discussion of the shortlist, where there's some discussion about making sure the science fiction definition stays open and wide, so that there isn't the problem of not recognizing a good science fiction book because it doesn't conform to a narrow definition. Not that some other award might occasionally have trouble with spotting something that's clearly part of the sphere because it might mean admitting the world is more expansive than they want to. Although, more and more, the winners of the awards are calling for accountability and fixing the things that have, in the past, been there and known but not fixed. (The 2020 Hugo award speeches, transcribed.) As well as those asked to keynote talking about their genre (romance, in this case) being both about the escape from reality and the thing to demand of reality, because people who have been denied their happily-ever-after deserve one. And for a lot of groveling to happen.
The winner heard that the police officers who murdered Breonna Taylor received no charges related to the murder and announced a donation of the entire prize money to bail funds for protesters. (An officer was charged with, essentially, a property crime about firing bullets where other people might have been hurt, but no murder, manslaughter, or other people crimes related to the killing.)
Since Sadiq Khan became mayor of London, the air quality in the city has improved dramatically, with further expansions of ultra-low emissions zones scheduled to happen in 2021 that will likely increase the air quality further.
Last for tonight, The JoyFest, which celebrates characters of color.
And a prayer that offers respite, if not hope, and reaffirms to us that even when everything is falling down around our ears, we are still worthy beings. Finding that core of "I am worthy" is, to put it mildly, difficult, especially since I spend a significant amount of time not really believing in my own worthiness, except as it relates to other people. Because that's easier to see. It's much harder to draw the throughline that says "you keep doing these things, and they go well, for the most part, and even when you're angry or scared or not on top of your game, it mostly means that things aren't going your way, but the core of you, that person abides, and, eventually, you'll go back to being that person instead of the role you are acting now."
Because everyone makes compromises, and sometimes, that compromise is exactly the right decision.
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Kudos to women who throw off that conditioning, but even the slightest suggestion that women are at fault for not throwing it off (which I do smell in the oped) enrages me.
(I'm not enraged at the writer, to be crystal clear. Just the barriers, and how hard some of them are to see.)
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That's about 25% of what I would like to say about this.
Simultaneously, it is True that human beings have always fought for one another, cared for one another fiercely, and carried the world’s anguish in our bodies.
Part of what I'm struggling with right now is feeling like I'm failing at caretaking, and confusing a failure at caretaking with a failure at caring. So that sentence is particularly hard for me right now.
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Hm. So good caretaking means picking the right parents?
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