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Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: June 20th, 2024

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  • just be supportive (irl or online) of the people in your life that need the most help. keep a tight circle. as your capabilities permit, slowly grow that circle outwards to include more activities or messages. resistance movements are not made overnight.

    the solution is not going to come in the form of a singular day of resistance, no matter what people tell you. even a worldwide general strike executed flawlessly will not upend the historical and cultural foundations that got us where we are today. we need a MOVEMENT. movements are made of people, like you and me.

    just by showing support, and talking candidly with others helps remind each other other that we have POWER when we all align our efforts.


  • it’s true. we’re seeing a lot of unconventional approaches to resistance nowadays. some might not work, some might only make a dent, some might help build solidarity but have little material effects. but something else is also true: no one, not the smartest of the smarty-pants historian economist or terminally online leftist post capitalist actually - KNOWS - the specific set of steps that will be sufficient to change things forever.

    all we can do is support people who are resisting in every way possible. sharing and reposting, donating money, signing petitions, calling reps, mobilizing unions, even more aggressive tactics (or giving aid to those who put themselves at risk directly).

    just help each other as hard as you can, build strong relationships because look around - we literally only have each other to count on right now. be a reliable and supportive ally and it will make a difference.







  • I believe people who study public opinion about science have noted that confidence drops during outbreaks and epidemics… if that’s the case, Covid does stand out to me as the first time in my life when laypeople began misusing and misunderstanding science at scale, loudly and as part of their proclaimed identity.

    makes sense that when a story of global 24/7 proportions eclipses all other news for 2+years straight, that it would become politicized and weaponized in the culture. our winner-takes-all first-past-the-post lesser-of-two-evils duopoly political system, combined with news as entertainment, and now we have folks that have made anti science their entire fucking identity.

    Carl Sagan refered to it as The Demon Haunted World (good book btw). Goya criticized it in his paintings. the Catholics burned people at the stakes because of it.

    History repeats; reactionary political/theological movements help ensure that it does.






  • most people aren’t aware that Air Traffic Controllers are forced to retire at 55. no old, slow reaction employees allowed.

    when Reagan fired thousands of ATCs in the 80s, then hired and trained all new scabs, he inadvertently created an enormous cohort who would all be retiring at around the same time due to forced retirement.

    fast forward to today,

    • thousands of ATCs were aging out and being replaced with less experienced people (less of a prob now than 10ish yrs ago but still staffing is extremely lean due to Reagan)
    • add to that the obsolete legacy tracking tech
    • add to that cost saving (corner cutting) by aerospace corps like Boeing
    • add to that major dysfunction in pilot training, screening out baddies, inexperienced pilots, and dissatisfied airline workers and unions
    • add to that Trump administration purges and demoralization of federal workers
    • add to that Musk getting his SpaceX cronies hands all over the system to make ‘upgrades’

    data nerds can point to historical accident statistics from the past 20 years up to what, 2020? all you like. trend lines don’t often accurately predict the future, they merely describe the past.

    I recommend thinking twice before placing all your loved ones on a plane over the next couple years. there’s going to be more of this.


  • collapse is almost definitely coming. I for one accept it though and believe there’s a low probability of a silver lining outcome for a small number of survivors to build something new after society as we know it comes crashing down.

    post collapse Earth will be irrevocably different from the one we inhabit today, but it won’t be all bad. i suspect not everyone will suffer the same fate from war, famine, or catastrophes. humans inhabit every corner and valley of this immense planet and not every place will be made uninhabitable for everyone, simultaneously.

    those who decouple from capitalism now and work towards a different kind of society, might fare better. it will be challenging, brutal, and at times exhausting for sure. but at least the orphan crushing machine we know today will finally come to a grinding stop.



  • that’s an important (yet debatable) prediction. historically, in subsistence based economies where more farmhands=more food I think that’s been true. and holds true up to the point where costs of living don’t exceed net household wages (picture Dickens era chimney sweep kids laboring for a pittance).

    what’s interesting is that it’s not true AT ALL for any other species in nature, only humans in the post ~1800s era have developed a seeming unlimited capability to secure more food for their young. wild deer populations naturally reduce themselves when food is scarce, but humans found a cheat code to growing forever.

    hard to say. but it’s worth mentioning that although the doubling time for population has been contracting since 1800, it now appears to have flattened and is reversing direction.

    maybe more accurate to compare say, fewer people choosing to have children vs fewer kids surviving to adulthood and what conditions contribute more to each


  • actual bonding comes later, first you have to spend a bunch of time just being in the presence of other people. make acquaintances using a common activity first is a good approach.

    that you say “willing to” already kinda sounds like you don’t give others much opportunity to get to know you and vice versa. as another commenter said - you may be stuck in a self limiting loop.

    make opportunities for connection first - find a litter clean up volunteer event, or a community garden where they need help, or an after school club, or a friendly working class bar (this was my place of choice for years until I found better alternatives)… the specific place or context doesn’t matter. find an activity or thing you enjoy (or could see yourself enjoying) and where other people can see/be around you… and eventually, completely unplanned you will invariably get to know people and then, maybe… bond with them. bonding isn’t a prerequisite to talking and sharing information about yourself or your struggles though. it can be as simple as pulling up a bar stool and raising a glass to someone you just met. or the non alcoholic equivalent if you don’t drink, I guess.


  • I don’t believe for a second that some sleuthing podcasters have created some impeachable, wholly accurate representation of a whole ass person based solely on their goodreads posts or random trail of breadcrumbs left in Facebook selfies… give me a break with the parasocial psychoanalysis. no one fucking knows shit about anyone if all you have to go on is their posts or what their college classmate said.

    more importantly, who fucking cares? folks need to stop pretending they were best friends with Anthony Bourdain or they SO RELATE to Taylor Swift. you don’t know someone because you listened to a podcast or followed their insta. same applies to Luigi.

    Actions >> (online bullshit, speculation, hype)