Toots đ from 07/17 to 07/21
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 donât include here unless their creators happen to have released them for use under a free license, and I notice. Most have not, or I donât notice. But I now add my commentary here, where I donât feel restricted by message length.
Also, I donât generally attach pictures to posts with quotations.
9:05 â Mon 17 July 2023
Image credit: via Google Earth, under a poorly-worded license that implies something like CC-BY
How small wealthy suburbs contribute to regional housing problems from The Conversation
Even new âluxuryâ apartments or condos can reduce competition for older units, taking some pressure off rents for people with lower incomes.
Hashtags: #Housing #Inequality
I always feel torn, because I canât imagine not living in suburbs, because I value the quiet and privacy. However, they do tend towards the destructive.
12:04 â Mon 17 July 2023
Distinguished personages, who, from the solid and dignified outward appearance they showed to the eyes of the world, would give you the impression that they had never entertained a foolish fancy, or mistaken the shadow for the substance in all their livesâŚ
Hashtags: #Quotes #DisabilityPride
9:03 â Tue 18 July 2023
Image Not Shown: A person in a speculative pose, looking up and to the right, against a green backdrop
Creative people are less likely to feel bored in solitude from Futurity
The first experiment also found that creative people were more engaged in their thoughts when they were left alone without distractions, such as cell phone and internet.
Hashtags: #Creativity #Boredom
This feels like it should interest at least some readers, though I donât have much to say about it.
12:01 â Tue 18 July 2023
The ebbing tide carries afar the ships freighted with aching, anguished hearts; when borne upon the swell of the flowing sea, come the swift sails of Argosies richly laden with hope, full with fruition.
Hashtags: #Quotes #DisabilityPride
9:04 â Wed 19 July 2023
Image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/solidarity-with-people-of-iran-14030251/ by Sima Ghaffarzadeh, under the Pexels license
As resistance in Iran continues, the regime strikes back from Global Voices
The escalation of armed repression has been coupled with a surge of repression inside the countryâs prison system, as the regime resorts to executing prisoners in its relentless campaign to stamp out resistance.
Hashtags: #Iran
I keep telling you all that the authoritarian emperors have no clothes. Theyâll go out of their way to hurt as many people as they can as they implode, but in the end, authoritarians only have violence to maintain their rule, and once the population stands up to them despite the threats of violence, they have nothing left of use.
12:03 â Wed 19 July 2023
We have a part of our party thatâs really driving the agenda. And we need more voices like mine, like yours in that Democratic caucus, and so our work is cut-out for us.
Hashtags: #Quotes #DisabilityPride
9:01 â Thu 20 July 2023
Content Warning: US Politics
Image Not Shown: QAnon protestors fly a flag and hold up pamphlets
The Horseshoe theory of politics meets the Q and woo crowd from Daily Kos
Thing is, this woo sound bath practitioner is a lovely person who would likely be happy to hang a âhate has no home hereâ sign on her lawn while unironically buying into antisemitic Rothschild conspiracy theories.
Hashtags: #QAnon #HorseshoeTheory
Iâve probably written about this before, and always mean to write a full blog post on it with maybe some actual research beyond my memories, but this reminds me a lot of the world of New Age bookshops in the 1980s and 1990s. Conversationsâwhich I witnessed, because I had a parent who frequented the placesâwould start with some unscientific but largely harmless sales pitch about using crystals and meditation to heal, but would quickly get into cultural misappropriation and a rogue government keeping critical secrets from Americans, by the time that you got to the UFO side of the shop, overt racism where âgoodâ aliens look like giant Swedes and the bad aliens happen to also figure into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Along the way, you get magic (or aliens) helping non-white folks stack blocks.
I sometimes wonder how much of an effect this culture had on politics, because it often feels like how we all live our lives, these days. Every oddball idea bounces down a pachinko board until it either bounces completely out of the machine or lands in a right-wing ratâs nestâŚ
12:06 â Thu 20 July 2023
If you dislike change, youâre going to dislike irrelevance even more.
Hashtags: #Quotes #DisabilityPride
9:07 â Fri 21 July 2023
Image credit: Adriana Nunez Rabascal, Voz de America
Venezuelaâs Oldest Radio Station Falls Silent from Voice of America
The station since April 2019 had been broadcasting via YouTube after the telecommunications regulatory agency closed down its signal, without providing a reason.
Hashtags: #Venezuela
I admittedly have never heard of RCR, but it still saddens me when these sorts of initiatives fail for such pointless reasons.
12:07 â Fri 21 July 2023
Do not think of todayâs failures, but of the success that may come tomorrow.
Hashtags: #Quotes #DisabilityPride
Bonus
Because it accidentally became a tradition early on in the life of the blog, I drop any additional articles that didnât fit into the one-article-per-day week, but too weird or important to not mention, here.
Image Not Shown: A farmer's hands working with a leafy-green vegetable
Cultivating the Next Crop of Americaâs Farmers from OtherWords
The federal government spends billions every year on farm subsidies, but most of the money goes to the largest and wealthiest operators. And because of systemic racism, Black and Indigenous farmers have faced particular difficulty in accessing these funds.
We absolutely need to fix this, if only because the last few years have taught us all that we shouldnât trust large companies to act in anybodyâs best interests. They all stand one temper tantrum away from a billionaire buying them out and decide to charge for continuing the parts of the business that make the company successful.
Image Not Shown: A presumed member of the Taliban at a press conference
Taliban Endorses Twitter Over Threads from VICE
âTwitter has two important advantages over other social media platforms. The first privilege is the freedom of speech. The second privilege is the public nature & credibility of Twitter. Twitter doesnât have an intolerant policy like Meta. Other platforms cannot replace it.â
Does this surprise anybody? The religion of right-wing movements affects almost nothing about their behavior: They all love Twitter, because they have a reputationâenhanced under new managementâof not policing authoritarians and their lackeys.
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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.
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Tags: linkdump mastodon socialmedia week