@Neferure@eldritch.cafe
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

Neferure

@Neferure@eldritch.cafe

Labour, republican (the UK kind), feminist, socialist. I'm retired due to Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (Hypermobility). Wheelchair user.

Very much a supporter of Ukraine as I used to live there. I have read Ukrainian history and politics so I have no time for Russian propaganda apart from when it's so bad it's amusing.

Also #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransWomenAreWomen #TransMenAreMen

Avatar: a sepia photograph of my grandmother in her late teens.
Header: a black and white cat called Eric.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

design_law, to random
@design_law@mastodon.social avatar

Happy weekend, friends! What are we reading, listening to, or watching for fun (or distraction)?

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@design_law I'm reading Vanuatu's 1980 Santo Rebellion:
International Responses To A
Microstate Security Crisis.

Before you ask, it's for fun.

Neferure, to philosophy
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

A short video from our trip to Derbyshire on Friday afternoon: Whitehough well.

A stone channel of water flowing into a small pool. Behind the pool is a stone wall with a stone arch built into it, presumably for well dressing.

Neferure, to random
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

A little afternoon trip out to Derbyshire.

The side of an old hall, which is now a pub. There is a gable end, old leaded windows and some shrubbery.
A well. It's the above ground type with water flowing in from a channel at the left-hand-side.
The Old Hall pub in Whitehough. A typically Derbyshire style old stone building.

Neferure, to Russia
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

More evidence of Russia's descent into the bad old days of denouncing your neighbour:

Vladimir Putin's police now interrogating Russians for wearing yellow for ridiculous reason
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/vladimir-putins-police-now-interrogating-32551887

Neferure, to Russia
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

Very nice of Ramzan Kadyrov to ban not only the Russian National anthem, but also the Chechen one.

https://www.grozny-inform.ru/news/culture/159912/

Neferure, to Ukraine
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/08/world/europe/decolonizing-ukrainian-art-oksana-semenik.html?smid=url-share Decolonising Ukrainian Art.

This needs to be done with Ukrainian authors, too. I get irritated when I see greats like Bulgakov listed as Russian.

PhilGastwirth, to random
@PhilGastwirth@worldkey.io avatar

Waking up to the news of this bridge collapse in Baltimore. So tragic. Maybe bridge columns should have huge metal beams in front of them like how stores have those poles in front to prevent cars going through the store.

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@PhilGastwirth The Committee on Ship-Bridge Collisions
Marine Board Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems
National Research Council wrote a report on that in 1983: Ship Collisions with Bridges: The Nature of the Accidents,Their Prevention and Mitigation.

It's available here: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA135602.pdf

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@skyfaller @vees @PhilGastwirth I have no idea, but knowing what I do of US health and safety, most likely they waited until Europe had finished their research, then did nothing.

Neferure, to Ukraine
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

Ukraine lives rent-free in Putin's head. He's obsessed.

Bookworm33333, to politics
@Bookworm33333@mas.to avatar

The media is teaching us to vote for the person who performs best FOR the media instead of the person who can take us the closest to where we need to go as a nation.

Democrats who are still waffling about whether or not President Biden should run for a second term, this video is something you really, really need to watch. I am very glad that I did.

https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/lawrence-on-what-they-don-t-tell-you-about-the-dump-biden-fantasy-204684869613

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@Bookworm33333 @thepoliticalcat The waffling about his age and capability has roots in ableism and ageism That's why we end up with leaders pretending they can walk, hear or see when they can't or pretending they are fine when they have covid when they are not. Neither physical frailty nor advanced age makes a bad leader. The only question should be, can they get the job done well (and without breaking the law).

Gordon Brown's quality of leadership was not dependent on his visual impairment and Churchill is considered a great leader while also being hearing impaired. Michael Higgins is older than either Trump or Biden, yet still manages to be a popular, effective president as these things go.

We need to get past the idea of good leaders being an attractive, strong, healthy, middle aged, man*. It cuts out an awful lot of talent.

*You could add white, Christian, heterosexual, cis, and many other things to that list.

shoq, to random
@shoq@mastodon.social avatar

Today’s random question is for those of you who were Girl Scouts back in the day. Do you look back on it as a net-positive or net-negative experience? Feel free to elaborate on why.

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@shoq I was chucked out of girl guides (UK girl scouts) for being too argumentative and refusing to dance. However, I'd say overall it was a slim net positive, although only because it was a place to hang out with my friends in a place where there were a limited number of things to do. We were fine when we were allowed to set fires, try welding or were running feral, but were not interested in all the homemaking stuff. They used to check our nails for appropriate levels of grooming, but I'd usually been gardening.

On the other hand, we did get to make those incredibly racist, blackface, minstrel dolls for our sewing badge, so there's that to consider.

Neferure, to random
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

Today is Rare Disease Day. I have a disease that is not particularly rare, but is considered so because it's underdiagnosed, misunderstood and some of the types are extremely rare.

If there were more funding for research and more training for doctors, perhaps we wouldn't be considered rare any more. 🦓

Text "Je soutiens journée des maladies rares le 29 Fév 2024 rarediseaseday.org"

Colin, to animals
@Colin@fluffy.family avatar

The preferred human is ill: she has finally succumbed to Covid19 because she abandoned me by leaving the house the other day. I did tell her that abandoning me was a terrible idea, but she didn't listen.

I am concerned she will pop joints out with all the coughing, but I am also upset by all the coughing, so I am staring at her, while also keeping my distance.

Did I mention the unacceptable levels of coughing?

Colin is in almost the exact same pose as in the previous picture, but this time, he is staring while sitting on a cardboard scratcher.

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@thepoliticalcat @Colin I asked for a specific type of bathroom cleaner, but he decided it was too expensive so he bought cheap anti bac instead. I said anti bac is no good for cleaning the bathroom, so he went back to buy cheap bathroom cleaner. The two things came to about the same price as the bathroom cleaner I requested.

I usually use household soap to clean, but I find that if there is a bottle of bathroom cleaner in the bathroom, people are more likely to clear up when they've made a mess, so it doesn't get as bad.

Neferure,
@Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

@thepoliticalcat plus the cheap cleaner and antibac smell so bad. I hate chemical smells, which is why I use the soap to clean and buy a bathroom spray that does not have a strong smell.

Anyway, I'm hoping that all the Covid in my house is now dead as I don't want my husband or daughter to catch it. However, due to being ill, the house did look a bit like one of those extreme cleaning videos as there was recycling all over the kitchen floor and no surfaces had been wiped at all. 😭

thepoliticalcat, to random
@thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat I have many issues with 30p Lee's comments, but here's 2 from my white, British, womanly perspective:

    1. it's not true. While London is the most ethnically diverse part of the UK because, you know, it always has been due to being the capital, a port, a global financial centre oh, and not forgetting our colonial history, Lee would do well to remember that in the last census, only about 20% of London's population was classed as Asian. Even if all of them were Muslims, which they aren't, it's a pretty shit takeover if that's what you think non-white people living in London is.

    2. It does not matter what colour skin people have, their religion, or even where they are born, Lee mate*! Britain is fantastic because we are not and never have been and never will be, a white Anglo-Saxon ethnostate. Being diverse makes us better! It is just what and who we are.

    If you don't think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job, say why and what you would do differently, rather than focus on his religion or skin colour. Those two things make zero difference to his competency in the job. Being white and "Christian" does not make you magically better at being a mayor FFS. Being from a minority group does not mean there is some kind of conspiracy to get him into power. He's just unusual because despite everything, he's made it.

    • I am assuming that when Lee Anderson is waffling on about Muslims, he also is complaining about skin colour. Prove me wrong.

    Rant over.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat we were discussing this today. Most Tories don't openly voice the horrible stuff they think, but he's so injudicious that he regularly says it out aloud in public.

    https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/08/lee-anderson-lgbtq-30p-lee-tory-deputy-char/

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat plus, he is evidence, as if we needed any more, that the UK is a long, long way from being a meritocracy.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat shockingly, no. It might make you worse because you've had it easy to get what you have.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat unfortunately, there is still a large group of people who think he's great for "saying it as it is."

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat good. A good nap solves a lot of things. If it helps, most of the UK thinks 30p Lee is a joke. Also, with the boundary change and his small majority, he will probably be nowhere near the HoC by the end of next year.

    Then, when everyone's libel actions goes against him, he'll be bankrupt and will have to find out for himself that foodbanks are necessary in modern Britain and you can't survive on 30p's worth of food.

    Will he learn anything from this? Probably not.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat unfortunately he is already being paid by GB News, so he'll probably end up there. £100,000pa for 8 hours a week: nice work if you can get it, but I wonder if he'll be as valuable as an ex-MP.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat he's also received money from a climate change denier, I think. It's all the same grift.

    Neferure, to ukteachers
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    What on earth! Just send your children to a normal school and spend the money you save on music lessons and skiing. Who cares if private schools go bust - it'll benefit all children if they do.

    This article is written as though we should be ringing social services because dearest Tarquin isn't going to be able to go skiing this year. Tarquin will live through the trauma unscathed I'm sure.

    Are rich people really that bad at money management?

    https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/afford-private-school-fees-bankrupt-2874929

    Plus, now is the worst time to change schools as the eldest is in the middle of their GCSEs (if the fancy private school even does them. Moving mid KS4 is fraught with problems, not least the different exam boards used by schools. I'd expect a parent to know this, but I was often surprised that they did not.

    Neferure, to KindActions
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    In September 2023, disaster struck: Hazel Grove's Community Little Library was stolen when someone dumped all the books on the floor and stole the library.

    We are fundraising to buy a new, bigger, better library using an organisation that uses salvaged wood. This will mean we can share more books with our community and possibly start a seed exchange bank as well.

    If you are able, we would really appreciate some financial help towards our goal.

    Our bank account looks quite healthy, but because of the way council funding works, we can't use the grant we received from them for the library.

    https://opencollective.com/hazel-grove-mutual-aid/contribute/little-library-fund-raiser-66429

    @bookstodon @mutualaid

    Here is our Instagram and Facebook if you want to know who we are and what we do. The photo is from our December walking group.

    https://www.instagram.com/hazel_grove_mutual_aid

    https://www.facebook.com/hazelgrove.help

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat I mean, they could have taken the books as we have had loads donated. To steal the library was just very inconvenient.

    Neferure,
    @Neferure@eldritch.cafe avatar

    @thepoliticalcat plus it is totally useless to anyone else. It was just a cheap £17 ikea greenhouse that we had waterproofed and painted.

    Anyway, we can take this opportunity to make something really fancy now, which can really be a good community resource.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • rosin
  • InstantRegret
  • khanakhh
  • ngwrru68w68
  • osvaldo12
  • DreamBathrooms
  • mdbf
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • everett
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • kavyap
  • provamag3
  • GTA5RPClips
  • Durango
  • cubers
  • modclub
  • tester
  • tacticalgear
  • cisconetworking
  • ethstaker
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • megavids
  • normalnudes
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •