Toots 🦣 from 04/22 to 04/26

As discussed previously, on Fridays, I present my weekly social media roundups. Note that toots of articles generally include header images from the articles, which I don’t include here unless their creators happen to have released them for use under a free license, and I notice. Most have not, or I don’t notice. But I now add my commentary here, where I don’t feel restricted by message length.

Also, I don’t generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.

Mon 22 April 2024 and Tue 23 April 2024

I decided to take Monday off and put the week’s toots together late, then…completely forgot about the latter piece, honestly.

9:06 – Wed 24 April 2024

A collage of tax forms
Image credit: based on https://www.pexels.com/photo/tax-documents-on-the-table-6863244/, under the not-quite-Free-but-close-enough-for-a-roundup-post Pexels license

5 new ways TurboTax made filing your taxes harder this year from Fast Company

Moreover, the team got eight full-screen popups along the way warning them that $133 wasn’t getting them TurboTax’s A-game efforts.

Hashtags: #Taxes #USPol #TurboTax

As a TurboTax user, I got rolled my eyes at three out of the five as they rolled by. I didn’t touch the AI chatbot, as you can probably guess, and I filed early enough that I didn’t see them trying to compete on (fictional) price. I can’t wait for the political will to manifest to have the IRS send bills and refunds out, like a real country, and these companies can go out of business as we all make the sad-trombone noise…

12:05 – Wed 24 April 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

There’s this new era of social justice movement about, “Yeah, we’re going to organize in the streets.”

Rashida Tlaib

Hashtags: #Quotes #ArabAmericanHeritage

9:07 – Thu 25 April 2024

Image Not Shown: African American school girl holding lunch on a tray

Diet quality goes up when kids eat school lunches from Futurity

All students improved their HEI scores, and students from low-income households saw a 10.34% increase over at-home dietary scores. The largest improvement, however, was among non-Hispanic Black students.

Hashtags: #Nutrition #Education #Inequality

I had to check the article twice, because I remember school lunches as almost indistinguishable from junk food, whether the ketchup-y kind of sloppy joe or flavorless pseudo-pizza types. However, I haven’t eaten a school lunch in decades, and people have gotten far more serious about nutrition. Figure in income inequality and food deserts, and things start making much more sense.

12:01 – Thu 25 April 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

The fact is that nobody in the universe likes occupation, and in the Middle East, it is a particularly sensitive topic because the Middle East has suffered from occupation and mandates for so long.

Rend al-Rahim Francke

Hashtags: #Quotes #ArabAmericanHeritage

9:02 – Fri 26 April 2024

Image Not Shown: A bird's-eye view of a relatively new suburban neighborhood

Worried about housing shortages and soaring prices? Your community’s zoning laws could be part of the problem from The Conversation

Many cities explicitly prohibit multifamily housing. Anything from duplexes to high-rises might be prohibited by a city’s zoning or regulatory code.

Hashtags: #Housing #Zoning #Segregation

I remember hearing about people questioning zoning policies in the early-1990s, because it often served to reinforce poverty by segregating people from the place of business. I don’t know how much of that derived from libertarian fantasy, but at least the discussions that I heard tried to distinguish between stopping someone from dropping a gas station or fast food restaurant in your front yard (good zoning) and arresting or fining a family because they run a small tailoring business out of an extra room (bad zoning).

12:04 – Fri 26 April 2024

Quoted on Mastodon

Jackie Speier’s record of having bills signed into law is unprecedented. Among her accomplishments, she has ensured the advancement of women’s rights and the protection of children.

Anna Eshoo

Hashtags: #Quotes #ArabAmericanHeritage

Bonus

Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didn’t fit into the one-article-per-day week, but too weird or important to not mention, here.

Yes, I missed two days worth of posts, but managed to find a “bonus” article…

Image Not Shown: People trying to sleep at a small shelter

Lawmakers Should Spend a Night in a Homeless Shelter from OtherWords

Poverty puts them in impossible situations. They must choose between food or shelter, medical care or poor health, running water or electricity. It’s a vicious cycle of suffering.

I can think of many places to send legislators to make them understand the laws that they pass—active war zones, Superfund sites, and others—but homeless shelters would make an excellent start and wouldn’t take much logistical management to get them there.

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Credits: Header image is Circular diagrams showing the division of the day and of the week from a manuscript drafted during the Carolingian Dynasty.