Notices by Curious Magpie (curiousmagpie@beige.party)

@PaulCzege Paul Simon?

"... Ursula Le Guin famously argued that the goal of science fiction is not to predict. She made this argument in the context of The Left Hand of Darkness, a book which Jo Walton not-quite-so-famously pointed out “is one of those books that changed the world, so that reading it now, in the world it helped grow, it isn’t possible to have the same experience as reading it in the world it was written in and for.” Prediction, under such circumstances, becomes irrelevant. Le Guin helped readers prepare for a world of relaxed gender roles and presentations, and in so doing helped them build such a world. But this was rare at the time and remains a challenge even today, when science fiction draws as often on social science as physics. And preparation for the future was unevenly distributed even among Le Guin’s readers—as anyone can report who’s attended a talk by a man who can’t name any female authors other than Le Guin ..."
#reading #sff https://reactormag.com/beyond-the-torment-nexus-how-does-science-fiction-help-us-prepare-for-the-future/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_P5TZkwwqf-ytZaDhKjIa2u1JvnlUbtkQ-VSnSTdpJ7tZHBH6y77aOrLJiKmRIcTtoBhR5WfqFEp3d2RNsHOaLmq8mpA&_hsmi=355996159&utm_content=355996159&utm_source=hs_email

One of the things that I've been wrestling with right now is a new phase in the process of aging. I don't mind the numbers, I never have, it's the loss of easy spontaneity with my body.

So I love reading books about old women. There aren't so many in the #sff realm. Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon is one of the best.
#reading @bookstodon
#MagpieReads

#SilentSunday

I just got a message from the Social Security Administration:

"On National Slam the Scam Day and throughout the year, we give you the tools to recognize Social Security-related scams and stop scammers from stealing your money and personal information."

If you would like to report any possible scams happening in our federal government relating to Social Security, here's the link: https://secure.ssa.gov/oig/scam/

Feel free to report #Musk and his #doge coterie for "impersonation of officials from federal, state, or local government agencies other than the Social Security Administration."

Feel free to share this with others. I'm sure the SSA would like to know how we really feel about the situation.
#SlamtheScam #SocialSecurity

Well that's just great, the local college is setting off an obscene amount of fireworks right now and the sounds are echoing back-and-forth in this little valley surrounded by low rolling mountains.

No care for their neighbors, for the pets and the wildlife and the veterans. And no announcement to let the local community know what's going to happen. Such arrogance, so despicable.

The snow has arrived in northwest Massachusetts - will we actually get 5”? Only time will tell - but we deserve at least one decent storm each winter.

Let it snow!! ❄️
#mawx

@kimlockhartga In that case, I might join you 🙃

@kimlockhartga oh I like that!

I've been following the posts on #sewing for a while now and am thinking more seriously about starting myself - what low tech machine would folks recommend for a beginner who hasn't sewn since high school home ec in the 1970s? I'm thinking simple - skirts, summer tunics, easy repairs.

@anildash Every time you choose to use the acronym doge, you are giving free advertising to musk’s crypto and you are legitimizing this travesty.
As Sherilynn Ifill says in her newsletter today: “Musk and Ramaswamy are leading at best a “project on government accountability.” … It is not a “Department” which is a legal term for federal agencies.“

The wonderful woman who helps me with housework has an autistic teenage daughter. This girl is trying so hard to navigate a very confusing world. The mom is supportive while the public school is actively not supportive.

I know I feel so supported by the adult community on here - does anyone know of safe online autistic communities for teens?
@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic

@carolski
The MaiWah museum of Chinese history in #Butte #Montana.

It’s a little museum that does its best to chronicle the history of Chinese immigrants into the mining city of Butte in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It’s a labor of love by the people of Butte who really care about their history - good, the bad and the ugly.

It also sponsors “Butte America's annual Chinese New Year Parade, which has been described as the shortest, loudest, and (sometimes) coldest parade in Montana.”

http://www.maiwah.org/explore/the-wah-chong-tai-mercantile/

https://www.whitehallledger.com/story/2024/01/31/community/2024-is-the-year-of-the-dragon-mai-wah-society-to-host-annual-chinese-new-year-parade-in-butte/7592.html

Okay … so … new instance and I guess I need a new #introduction?

Accomplishments I’m most proud of: Raising my daughter (as a single mom) to be a fierce, loving, and much more competent and functional adult than I have been; Founding and managing a successful farmer’s market in the early 2000s that is still running today; Completing a master’s degree (MSci) in my 50s and after being accepted to a PhD program at the University of Oregon, dropping out because it was not the right choice for me.

Moves: I just completed my 54th lifetime move (perhaps the last move but I won’t hold my breath because it’s uncomfortable); I’ve lived in New York, Massachusetts, Montana❣️, Oregon, New Mexico, Washington; I've traveled cross county 7 times and I was homeless for a few years but it took me a while to realize it.

Jobs: so so so many, including: tech writer, crisis counselor, waitress, communications manager, college professor, massage therapist, bookseller, executive assistant, project manager, legal assistant, goat cheese maker, pre-school special ed teacher, tarot reader, editor, book reviewer … I contain multitudes! Now enjoying every single day of retirement with the option to choose to do (or not do) what I want!

Misc: I’m living on unceded land of the Muh-he-conneok; I am kakotheres (unfit for enduring summer); I’m a late-diagnosed autistic elder; I love speculative fiction, long rambling strolls, words and meaning-making.

Wow - strong words from Scientific American on #birdflu

“…Experts say they have lost faith in the government’s ability to contain the outbreak.

“We are in a terrible situation and going into a worse situation," said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. “I don’t know if the bird flu will become a #pandemic, but if it does, we are screwed…”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-has-spread-out-of-control-after-mistakes-by-u-s-government-and/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/19/who-are-the-men-convicted-over-rape-and-assault-of-gisele-pelicot-

Wise words from #KellyHayes

“… People are furious and heartbroken, and they know they have been wronged.

“Some are working themselves to death, laboring through illness or amid the deterioration of their joints or spinal discs, because they can’t afford to stop.

“Some pay insurance rates they can barely afford and still receive astronomical medical bills.

“Many have watched their loved ones suffer and die needlessly or while in unnecessary pain.

“Still more are constantly struggling to get the basic tests and medications they need to maintain their health.

“They know that people like themselves are dying when they could be saved. If they are not suffering today, they know that they could be tomorrow–that they could be struck by chronic pain or a chronic illness that would render them surplus and disposable in a billionaire’s world.

“The working class is marked for violence, as corporate policies and algorithms decide if our bodies are worthy of maintenance–or if we should simply be left to die …”

#healthcare #uhc #CorporateViolence https://organizingmythoughts.org/insurance-denials-chronic-pain-and-a-nations-rage/?ref=organizingmythoughts-newsletter

Worth reading from @pluralistic

“… If you die with a bullet in you, the chances are that the finger on the trigger was your own. The next most likely suspect is someone you know. After that, a cop. Getting shot by a stranger out of uniform is something of a rarity here …”

#guns
#healthcare
#UnitedHealthCare

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/09/radicalized/#deny-defend-depose

@Nichelle @RickiTarr I would really like to agree with you. Today I’m thinking about people who are working two or three jobs and raising children and caring for aging or sickly parents and perhaps are disabled in someway themselves and don’t have time to sit down and watch a rally or don’t have Internet connection to look up a website. The fact that I can sit here typing out my thoughts about it all is the kind of privilege that I don’t examine often enough.

@hrefna @markwyner
Also - you must invest in and commit to safe, locked storage of any firearms.