Notices by myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win), page 21

I have this fantasy about the "ultimate writing environment" small town, the more boring the better. One Dollar General with limited hours, a little apartment above an abandon video rental just off the highway. A mysteriously slow internet connection. No car. Just walk over the bridge to go to the store every day or write.

That said, I think this is a kind of mirage. The best place to write is ... now. Just before a job interview. On the bus. In the middle of the night when you can't sleep.

Do you have an imaginary "ultimate writing environment" ?

Mine is based on the place where I spent my summers when I was in high school. It's the little town where my parents live now and with nothing better to do I just wrote all day.

I think I'm better at telling stories now, though. But I never have poured out words at that rate again. Drips and drabs.

It's interesting that Democrats in general are doing better than Biden in particular in some swing state polls. There has been an increase in "split ticket" responses to polls in swing states. People who say they will vote for Trump for president, but Democrats in down-ticket local races. These aren't large numbers of people but they are larger than normal and enough to swing races.

This shows the sheer power of media IMO.
1/

Media have been repeating this idea that Biden's age is a serious problem. If you keep hearing that there is something wrong you assume it's important.

But what exactly is the problem? I remember Ronald Regan, Mitch McConnell, both being in similar states. It makes me sad to see old men wasting the twilight years of their life clinging to power, but it's nothing new.

And if Biden can't function we have a vice president. It's just not a "problem" on the same scale as Trump. 2/

Only Biden himself can decide to pass the baton. I don't think pressuring him is working. I understand that it's exciting to think about being free of the guy. But Harris isn't a big improvement in terms of policy.

Harris would invigorate the black vote. Harris would face sexism and racism that will cancel this advantage.

If you put in anyone other than Harris you invite disaster.

And if Biden is so near to the next plane anyway, maybe you get her anyways. Who Cares?

3/

I don't really care what Biden decides at this point. Just aim to win. He seems to have decided that he thinks he can stay, so at this point those still beating the "retire" drum seem like they are undermining the larger project.

I'm writing post cards, and will be canvassing in PA. If this goes south I won't be the one feeling like maybe I should have done more.
4/

I've said I can't stand Biden and that's still true. But I consider the plans and rhetoric of republicans so deeply antithetical to the few things that make this country good I've been compelled to act.

Could we please have a little less of the friendly fire? Please?

It doesn't matter to me if it is Biden or Harris or god help us someone else, we must not allow Trump back in office and it's within our power to stop him.

5/5

I've seen some people saying it's democratic partisans who are "ignoring the age issue" and trying to shut down these calls for Biden to drop out.

But I think the real difference is who is taking the threat posed by Trump seriously. He wants to make nearly all government jobs political appointments. Everything from the post office to the EPA, FDA everything politicized-- What would a political FDA do with treatments for things they don't think exist?

Remember acid rain? Remember the hole in the ozone?

For all the imperfections we *have* made progress. This is down to having people doing all these regulatory roles who are well schooled in their work, not trying to follow conservative buzz word trends. This is a plan to wind the clock backwards. It will be very bad and take decades to undo.

this place is full of shameless gratuitous pun makers

something should be DONE!!

@dalias Can you tell us more about why machine learning isn’t a good fit for this? Though I didn’t even know throttling speeds could possibly improve quality. Knowing little it sounds possible? But what tipped you off that it would not work?

My dad has been watching bad youtube since they funnel people to bad content— he likes political news and to keep up with the war in Ukraine— what are some better youTube channels I can subscribe him to to clean up his feed? now it has that guy who always lies saying Russia is about to win on it — I showed him how he has said the same thing for two years and I think he’s ready for new stuff.

#lichensubscribe

I would like to see archeology done on *randomly* selected sites based on cumulative human historical population density.

Too much comes from the same places combed over obsessively (often to prove obscure pet theories) not enough is just— a general survey of humankind over all regions where there were dense populations.

me to the carpenter ant in my mom’s bathroom: “on no you’re going to get in so much trouble if they catch you in here— on no”

mom: “who are you talking to??”

“NOBODY”
(whispering)
“run run run 😨”

My dad is convinced they will “eat the house”

I found their nest. I’ll see if I can move them tomorrow. It’s a very new colony like 10 ants maybe.

(The Supreme Court has pushed me over the edge. I'm now just focusing on a very different kind of regime change. )

... really ants the size of apples would be enough of an improvement to give us a run for our money. Especially factoring in the increase in intelligence given the larger number of mushroom bodies in an hymenopteran style brain of that size.

The brains of eusocial insects are mysterious for their small size, they do more than seems possible with so few cells. So what happens when an ant has a brain the size of a mouse? But with ant architecture?

People use the "square cube law" to feel like there can't possibly be giant ants... but they just ignore all the giant crabs the size of army duffle bags.

The barriers to huge ants are not as robust as you think, and they can be overcome!

For my husband it's ordering drinks. He told me about the sheer terror of:

1. Not being able to tell what gender drinks were.
2. Being attracted to drinks that were "for women"
3. Ordering whisky on ice because that was the one thing he knew wouldn't be "incorrect" and hating it.

Now he drinks boba and laughs about it.

But why did this world have to stress out this kind wonderful man over something so ... pointless? He was afraid to sip my martini. Why do we do this to each other??