@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

textualdeviance

@textualdeviance@retro.pizza

Democrat, pop-culture geek, Gen Xer, author of SFF novels, spoonie, parent, occasional classical singer. Queer/enby (flexible pronouns.) I swear a lot.

ID for profile pic: The colors of the progress pride flag in the shape of the state of Washington.

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

amyfou, to random
@amyfou@lingo.lol avatar

Good morning, friends ☕ ☕ 🐕 🐕 💞 💞

Thanks to @ingalls for the reminder that May 18 is the anniversary of the Mt St Helens eruption (1980), and it's worth marking that day.

We had moved from Yakima to Wenatchee a few years earlier, so got the reports of 'darkness at noon' by phone from my grandma who was still there.

This ⬇️ is a US Forest Service photo, taken at 1:30PM on Yakima Avenue, Yakima WA, on May 18 as the ash cloud passed through.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@amyfou I don't know if they still do it, but when I lived in Portland in the early '90s, the lodge gift shop at Multnomah Falls sold souvenir tchotchkes made with ash. It seemed a bit macabre to me at the time.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

It's so weird that we are all supposed to be ashamed for burping and farting. I deeply apologize to everyone for keeping my body from literally exploding, so uncouth.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@CoachMark @RickiTarr When my toddler daughter issues a good burp before bedtime, I always congratulate her. She giggles.

Chrishallbeck, to random
@Chrishallbeck@mastodon.social avatar

Colors in the sky.

https://youtu.be/zqzjXM4WHrs

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@Chrishallbeck This is how I end up learning at midnight things like the utterly useless information that baby echidnas are called "puggles."

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Y'all want to hear a fact that really changed the way I thought about homelessness?

Half of all homeless people were in the foster system at some point. Social Workers often call the foster system The Highway to Homelessness. If you ever had a point in your life where you had to live with friends or family to for a short time to get back on your feet, remember that is a privilege that not everyone had.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@Rayston @RickiTarr I don't have data at hand, but my understanding is that there are two categories that could be thought of as "choice" homelessness:

--The vagabond sorts who feel stifled by jobs, permanent residences, etc.
--People who have intense addictions that compel them to "choose" the addiction over treatment or shelter rules, etc.

The former is a very small percentage, and these days, they're largely the "van life" crowd.

The latter is a complicated situation...

GottaLaff, to climate
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

“Fed regulators on Monday approved sweeping changes to how America’s electric grids are planned & funded, in a move that supporters hope could spur thousands of miles of new high-voltage power lines & make it easier to add more wind and solar energy.

The new rule by Fed Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate electricity transmission, is most significant attempt in years to upgrade and expand the country’s creaking electricity network”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/climate/electric-grid-overhaul-ferc.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff This is the boring but effective stuff that good government does. But it's just not exciting enough for the suburban revolutionaries.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

You are going to make love to a Cereal Mascot, who do you choose?

I'm going Snap, Crackle, & Pop.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@RickiTarr Honestly, he looks a little too Dick Van Patten for my tastes, but at least he's human.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

'A step back in time': America's Catholic Church sees immense shift twd the old ways

“Generations of Catholics who embraced modernizing tide sparked in 1960s by Vatican II are increasingly giving way to religious conservatives who believe church has been twisted by change…

..molded by plummeting church attendance…reshaped parishes across the country, leaving them at odds w Pope Francis and much of the Catholic world.”
https://apnews.com/article/7638fa2013a593f8cb07483ffc8ed487

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff A minor point in a near-future book I wrote ~10 years ago is that a traditionalist sect, angry at Francis, split off from the main Church. I now wonder if that might actually happen. Or worse, that they might instead overthrow him and install another Pope Rat.

orci, to random
@orci@mastodon.social avatar

Geminis are the literal worst. What is wrong with all of you?

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@orci ADHD.

Or maybe that's just me.

GottaLaff, to Canada
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

🇨🇦For those interested, finally, Part 3 of my series is done. Parts 1, 2 are linked in Part 3 but just in case, I'm linking here too.

This is for anyone interested in why, how we managed to get permanent residency.

Everyone else, ignore, although you may find it interesting regardless.

Part 3: https://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2024/05/im-moving-to-canada-part-3-its-happening.html

Part 1: https://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2024/01/im-moving-to-canada.html

Part 2: https://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2024/01/im-moving-to-canada-part-two-how.html

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff So glad you're almost there! I can't help but be a little envious. We're overdue for a move, and have multiple things pushing us to do so very soon (political hell included, since we'd be in danger.) But with all the uncertainty and prices skyrocketing for the kind of house we need, figuring out where, when and how is just daunting. And if we do have to flee, it's probably already too late anyway, dangit.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff At the very least, though, we really need to get up there again, soon. We used to hit either Van or Victoria once a year, but haven't crossed the border since the plague started. Our 14 m/o daughter needs to become an official International Baby of Mystery. And we need Nando's and Timbits and All-Dressed Ruffles (all the important stuff!)

GottaLaff, to Canada
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

I'm writing Part 3 now. Do you have anything you want covered? 🇨🇦

https://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2024/01/im-moving-to-canada.html

https://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/2024/01/im-moving-to-canada-part-two-how.html

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff I need to look into how they handle remote workers. The spouse is very lucky to have a career that can be done from just about anywhere (though being near a tech hub is best.) But I don't know if they'd want to make sure he's working for a Canadian company, or at least a company with an office in Vancouver or something. And I also do have to look into the health thing.

augieray, to random
@augieray@mastodon.social avatar

"I'm so angry at Biden over Isreal/Gaza that I'm going to help Trump destroy democracy, weaponize the Justice system, send millions to deportation camps, lower the taxes on the wealthy and shift the burden to the middle class, cut Social Security, track and prosecute women having abortions, pardon the people who violently attacked Capitol police, dismantle NATO, help Russia, AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT do even more harm to Palestinians" is a take--it's just a really awful take, IMO.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @augieray @Amoshias Generic anti-interventionism doesn't stop war. It just lets monsters like Putin do whatever they feel like doing.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @augieray @Amoshias Also, "I don't care if Trump outright murders millions of Americans if he also pulls us out of NATO" is one hell of a take.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @Amoshias @augieray "We" survived? And the million-plus COVID deaths due to completely fucked up handling of the pandemic are meaningless, I guess?

Also, I'll remind you that had Democrats not taken the House in 2018, things would have been much, much worse. He won't make that mistake again. Believe him when he tells you he wants to go full dictator.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @Amoshias @augieray There is still a Russia under Putin. Doesn't mean it's not a fucked-up mess with sham elections and violent oppression.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @Amoshias @augieray I have extended family who had to evacuate Israel because of shit going down. The majority of Israelis don't want Bibi in office, much less doing what he's doing (have you seen the scale of the protests?) But they also don't want to be targets for Hamas, Iran or any of the other hostile entities in the region. The whole area is an absolute mess, all because assholes are fighting over who's entitled to own all of it. And Biden can't change that. No one can.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@evan @augieray Let me guess: You're a cishet guy. Probably white. Yes? Because if you don't think loading up SCOTUS with a bunch of theocrats and laying waste to the legal principle of the right to privacy is dire, then it's clearly because you don't think you've lost anything, nor stand to lose more.

Wonder if you'll still feel the same when they ban porn.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

When your gay friends are stripped of their marriages, tell them you didn’t vote because you wanted to make a statement about Gaza.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@StillIRise1963 I have to wonder where this fervor was during Trump's previous term, when Bibi was ALSO being a murderous shitbag. Why is it only cropping up in an election year, when it can be used by propagandists to suppress voters in the service of getting Trump back in office? And where is the fervor for all the other violent oppression in the world? Why are these same people silent about Putin and Modi, for instance?

People are getting suckered into letting Trump win. It's ridiculous.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

If people would just send me pictures of their homemade bread, I would both appreciate it, and be full of bread lust.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@RickiTarr OK, this whole thread is just too much! Alas that I don't have enough spoons these days to bake much. I'm lucky that we have a lot of good bakeries around here, though.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Via Ben Wikler:

Absorb this graph—but note that the final year is 2018, the year of Trump’s tax cuts. That’s ’s big goal, always has been: to rip off working people and hand huge bags of cash to the ultra-wealthy, like himself and his Mar-a-Lago buddies.

Rutger Bregman:

Stunning graph: the plummeting tax rates of the richest Americans. For the first time in history, billionaires have a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GottaLaff Wow. Looking at that dude's posts... It's like a toot-by-toot GOP talking point machine. With some pro-Russia/anti-Ukraine stuff for good measure. Yikes.

flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

** IT’S HERE! FRIDAY NIGHT MUSIC THREAD ON **

Tonight’s theme is:

★🎸🎧 ROCK, ROCK TIL U ROCK! 🎧🎸★

—
🎵 Post hair metal from the 70s, 80s and 90s along with what you’re drinking. 🎶
—

I see your face every time I dream
On every page, every magazine
So wild and free, so far from me
You're all I want, my fantasy

🍷 Def Leppard ‘Photograph’ + Sex On The Beach🍸

Post often • share • make some friends

I have no idea why but I listen to Def Leppard pretty much every week. The drummer still has two arms in this one, so enjoy kids!

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@flexghost Someone already posted Ratt, which was one of my favorite bands during my 12 y/o hair-band phase (before I got into New Wave and everything changed.) Also listened to Dokken and Def Leppard at the time.

But these guys were also in my favorite rotation. Definitely more power-pop than metal, But Jack Blades' hair (is it a mullet? Who knows?!) made all the difference.

(Also, not drinking booze because I don't, but I did down a bottle of Hint water earlier.)

https://youtu.be/YbF0axsoQIw?si=5oJWiQhL4HoDcUvp

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

The Two Types of Vacationers:

Me: Hey Honey, what do you want to do on vacation? I want to walk somewhere lovely and try something new every day.

Hubs: Sleep as long as I want.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@RickiTarr Sounds like you need a cruise. Plenty of time to pass out in a lounge chair, but also go do touristy stuff when you're in port. You could even do different stuff and then meet back up for dinner to chat about the day.

housepanther, to random
@housepanther@goblackcat.social avatar

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GhostOnTheHalfShell This says absolutely nothing about the causes for those differing numbers. Your belief that it's because of road maintenance costs soaking budgets is completely unsupported and frankly preposterous.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GhostOnTheHalfShell Jesus, you are tiresome. You're so laser focused on this single issue that you don't see anything else. Divorcing school funding from property taxes would solve that problem, but the reason it doesn't happen has fuckall to do with road maintenance. Prop 13 itself came from the exact same people who want to maintain that broken system because it means poor people get shittier schools.

textualdeviance,
@textualdeviance@retro.pizza avatar

@GhostOnTheHalfShell Look, genius. No one is saying we don't need to improve infrastructure. But refusing to see, much less fix, the other things contributing to this particular crisis is ridiculous. You want a massive, large-scale overhaul which is going to take generations to do in a sustainable and equitable way. We have people suffering in the here and now who need help that your long-range plans won't bring.

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