Thoughts of a Geeky Teacher

when people ask how i got into hockey and im like “through a friend”

the friend in question:

literally me

When absolutely 0 of Biden’s accomplishments have made any kind of news, and we’ve been fed a steady diet of fear and panic for 3 years, no one gets to be shocked when he loses the next election to Donald 2.0.

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

It’s easier to protest against a president you don’t like then to actually remain in charge and keep pushing ahead, even if small, consistent accomplishments are all you receive.

I know I’ll never be missing an election in my life again (barring some kind of major medical event).

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

Low cost hearing aids, lower and $0 student loans, concrete investments in green architecture…there was an announcement like 2 days ago to replace all leaded pipes out of US cities over the next 10 years, which will be an absolute boon in jobs for construction workers and can make our homes safer for kids. I’m sure I’ll see a headline in a year, “Biden’s lead pipe program causes drivers traffic headaches.”

Republicans want 20 foot concrete barriers topped with barbed wire across the entire southern border, and Democrats want amnesty and ease to citizenship for just about anyone who crosses, and it really seems like until a compromise is made somewhere in there, Republicans will continue to turn out in massive numbers to elections because God told them to, and Democrats will continue to stay home because the last president didn’t accomplish 100% of their goals and voting for an imperfect president is a personal and ethical failing.

Now take that mentality and spread it over every single social and economic issue.

I remember how utterly scared and angry we were sone years ago when Trump was trying to bankrupt the USPS. People were talking about it left right and sideways, asking people to buy from the USPS gift shop, start a stamp collection, anything. Then, Biden got elected and put a huge stop to that by getting rid of the unfair laws that only the USPS had to abide by. Overnight, the USPS was saved, and how did everyone react?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

About a month ago, BAM, it was restored because Biden appointed a Democratic leader to the FFC. Did anyone talk about it? Nope. I saw ONE post.

All of the above.

I've never missed voting in any election I was entitled to vote in since I was old enough to vote. And I'm sure as hell not going to start now. Far too much rides on it.

Having said that, here comes your periodic reminder about how you might consider dealing with your civic duty:

By bearing in mind that you'll never find, or be presented with, the perfect candidate—or any exhibitor of perfect unblemished blamelessness that will let you feel safely virtuous in voting for them. There's no such thing. Stop wasting your time looking for one.

Another metaphor: this isn't like picking out the perfect car to buy and then driving exactly where you want to go. It's like taking public transport: you study the map and take the bus or train or tram that'll get you closest to where you want to be. In candidates, the rational search is for someone who gets as close as possible to what you want in a person who's going to be [president][senator][representative][dogcatcher][whatever]. And here you judge them by their actions, not their words.

Are some of the candidates we're looking at (for instance) in 2024 in the US seriously imperfect? Oh yeah. Are they nonetheless a superior choice, based on past and current behavior, to the available options? Yes. Are they screwing up right now? Yes. Are they still a better choice?

That's what you get to make plain with your next vote. There are candidates who'll inevitably offend parts of your conscience if/when you vote for them. But all your conscience gets to do is be offended. You're the one who chooses what action to take. And if you're of age to vote, anything but voting (or doing your very best to*) is refusing the choice—and resigning the power of your vote into the hands of at least one other person who may well want you (or your friends) poor, sick, permanently disenfranchised, or dead.

So bear that in mind. And also note that Tumblr is no less vulnerable to political and propaganda trolling than any other platform. The "One side's as bad as the other, both sides are terrible, voting doesn't matter" stuff is already starting up. Those of us who've been here long enough will have seen it in 2019/20 (and in 2015/2016...), and will recognize it. This stuff invariably comes from people who're trying to suppress your vote. Which raises the question: why would they bother... unless they're really, really afraid of it?

So give them good reason to be afraid... and keep your eyes open. Meanwhile, start studying your regional and local candidates as they shake down into their running positions. This isn't the kind of homework you can do effectively at the last minute. It takes lots more work than clicking on some poll or signing some online petition... but then the stakes of the game are far higher.

Therefore be aware. And get ready to choose responsibly.

*Helping others vote is a good move too, even if you can't.

I'm sure it was confusing to have the overtly anti-right wing song off the anti-right wing album altered to target maga. I cannot imagine how shocking it was to find out that the avowedly socialist and openly bisexual punk rock kid who's written songs about distrusting the government since he was four, is an anti-fascist.

2002 -> 2016: “I feel pretty fortunate to get to do that every day, something I love to do.” - Sidney Crosby is Living the Dream

So do people realize that we aren't building new train tracks when we expand the amteak network, I have multiple times seen people say that we shouldn't expand the network because it would destroy protected lands, which would be a fair criticism but Amtrak doesn't build new tracks, we use existing tracks. We are not destroying protected lands, we are using land that has already been clear for a century

Also the alternative is more highways which destroy significantly more land for less capacity than railways. So the question is do you want to keep complaining about something that isn't happening and let the environment get damaged as a result or do you want to actually learn how things work

So, wait... Were the tracks not in use at all? Or was it like *only* commercial transport on those tracks? Either way, its good that amtrak will be able to use them again, but one would be much more frustrating

Almost all rail tracks in the US are either abandoned or only used for freight rail at the moment

Jesus, we really have no excuse for having such a lackluster rail system, do we?

Sure we do! The US government hate both rail and you personally

“colleen hoover is the new modern day jane austen” “emily henry is the new modern day jane austen” “tessa bailey is the new modern day jane austen”

we have been blessed!

special head boop for two

You know what the most frustrating thing about the vegans throwing a fit over my “Humans aren’t Parasites” post is?  I really wasn’t trying to make a point about animal agriculture. Honestly, the example about subsistence hunting isn’t the main point. That post was actually inspired by thoughts I’ve been having about the National Park system and environmentalist groups.

See, I LOVE the National Parks. I always have a pass. I got to multiple parks a year. I LOVE them, and always viewed them as this unambiguously GOOD thing. Like, the best thing America has done. 

BUT, I just finished reading this book called “I am the Grand Canyon” all about the native Havasupai people and their fight to gain back their rights to the lands above the canyon rim. Historically, they spent the summer months farming in the canyon, and then the winter months hunter-gathering up above the rim. When their reservation was made though, they lost basically all rights to the rim land (They had limited grazing rights to some of it, but it was renewed year to year and always threatened, and it was a whole thing), leading to a century long fight to get it back. 

And in that book there are a couple of really poignant anecdotes- one man talks about how park rangers would come harass them if they tried to collect pinon nuts too close to park land- worried that they would take too many pinon nuts that the squirrels wanted. Despite the fact that the Havasupai had harvested pinon nuts for thousands and thousands of years without ever…like…starving the squirrels. 

There’s another anecdote of them seeing the park rangers hauling away the bodies of dozens of deer- killed in the park because of overpopulation- while the Havasupai had been banned from hunting. (Making them more and more reliant on government aid just to survive the winter months.) 

They talk about how they would traditionally carve out these natural cisterns above the rim to catch rainwater, and how all the animals benefitted from this, but it was difficult to maintain those cisterns when their “ownership” of the land was so disputed. 

So here you have examples of when people are forcibly separated from their ecosystem and how it hurts both those people and the ecosystem. 

And then when the Havasupai finally got legislation before Congress to give them ownership of the rim land back- their biggest opponent was the Parks system and the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club (a big conservation group here in the US) ran a huge smear campaign against these people on the belief that any humans owning this land other than the park system (which aims at conservation, even while developing for recreation) was unacceptable. 

And it all got me thinking about how, as much as I love the National Parks, there are times when its insistence that nature be left “untouched” (except, ya know, for recreation) can actually harm both the native people who have traditionally been part of those ecosystems AND potentially the ecosystems themselves. And I just think there’s a lot of nuance there about recognizing that there are ways for us to be in balance with nature, and that our environmentalism should respect that and push for sustainability over preserving “pristine” human-less landscapes. Removing ourselves from nature isn’t the answer. 

But apparently the idea that subsistence hunting might actually not be a moral catastrophe really set the vegans off.  Woopie. 

https://twitter.com/onlyyagirl_

my god this reminds me

of when we were young ❤️

As a leftist Jew who believes strongly in the cause of dignity and freedom for the Palestinian people, and that Israel has abused them, I am begging fellow leftists to understand that real life is not a comic book. A government being “the bad guy” in a situation does not automatically make anyone who opposes it “the good guy”.

Hamas denies the Holocaust. Hamas disseminates the Protocols of the Elders of Zion—the conspiracy theory it paints is what they mean by “Zionist”. Hamas forbids foreign aid educators from teaching human rights to Palestinians, and claims that even teaching that the Holocaust happened is a war crime. Hamas has written the aim of annihilating Israel (the country and its people) into its charter—the mass slaughter and violent expulsion of 7 million Jews from the land is written into its laws.

There is no crime any state could ever do that would justify any of that; there is no act of state repression that could ever make it acceptable to side with the organization spreading Nazi pamphlets and Holocaust denial.

Oppose Bibi Netanyahu. Oppose Israel’s far-right, authoritarian government. Oppose Likud’s policies. Oppose its violence against Palestinian civilians. That isn’t antisemitic. But Hamas is—verifiably, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to its core—antisemitic. Its portrayal of Israeli Jews as blood-thirsty, child-killing master manipulators that control international media and finance is antisemitic. Its insistence that Palestinian freedom necessitates the death & expulsion of Jews from the land is antisemitic. Its redefinition of “Zionism” as a pejorative to mean genocidal Jewish/Israeli Supremacy is antisemitic.

Supporting the Palestinian people in their plight is a noble and loving goal; please never stop that. But do not let Hamas co-opt that into excusing or denying their rampant antisemitism and war crimes.

this is an excellent post & it's important to note that in addition to being violently antisemitic, hamas also violently oppress palestinians:

& i just want to reiterate op's message: you can & should advocate for a free palestine without excusing hamas' actions. they are not ~freedom fighting superheroes~ or whatever; labelling them in such a way is an insult to jews & palestinians.

thousands of people have suffered & died. the people of gaza do not deserve to have their trauma exploited by "progressives" who are completely detached from this crisis & treat palestinian plight like a marvel film.

acknowledging nuance isn't an act of neutrality - it's a necessity. you're not helping anybody by viewing this situation through a narrow lens.

I think retail workers should be able to sit down in chairs and listen to music and goof around and chat with their coworkers and dick around on their phone when they have free time and not have to pay attention to every customer's little whim or be constantly on guard or perform happiness or clean and should be able to make out in the back rooms or go home whenever because theres enough people to cover their shift and just enjoy life and labor a little more. In my opinion

first you have to remember that the first disco ball was painstakingly put together by hand from nothing but an idea and lots of intricately cut glass and bandaids and then you have to think about the experience of being under a disco ball for the very first time, bathed in reflections of an era that has not yet come to past, and finally you end up wondering what else there is around you that has yet to be unearthed by something with so much as a silly name

I remembered this post a few nights ago while I was out and looking up at this massive disco ball and I needed to find it but I couldn’t so I just googled disco ball and stood there in the middle of the concert floor reading the disco ball Wikipedia entry. anyway did you know that the disco ball is German in origin.

Family Holiday Any% Glitchless WR