Notices by Jürgen Hubert (juergen_hubert@mementomori.social)

@igrok @JPZ @mekkaokereke @dangillmor

Whatever Americans do, future generations of Americans will ask them:

"What did you do during the Trump years?"

in the same way that Germans born after WWII asked their parents:

"What did you do during the Third Reich?"

I hope they will have good answers.

You may be mostly familiar with dragons as huge, flying reptiles.

But in German folklore, dragon can also be shapechanging trickster spirits!

#Germany #folktale #folklore #dragon @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/dragon-kobolds-32716369

So... I am considering eventually making my older books available for free to the general public, but I don't want to do that on the #InternetArchive because I don't want it to be mistaken for pirated works (which are rife over there).

Are there any #OpenAccess platforms suitable for submitting works on #folklore ?

I just had a thought:

If the #USA actually _does_ invade #Canada , then #Tesla cars become valid military targets.

After all, ultimately they are controlled by #ElonMusk , who has already stated that "Canada is not a real country" and largely seems to support whatever inane thing #Trump wants to do.

And Tesla cars are already massive surveillance devices, and could probably be turned into autonomous #drones very easily with a few simple software updates by Tesla.

So... Canada (and #Greenland, etc.) should probably start banning these cars.

#DroneWarfare

Am I disturbed by these attacks on #Tesla cars and dealerships? Yes.

However I must also take their context into account. And the context is this:

Yes, there are legal and less-violent ways of fighting #fascism than this. However, in the last decade or two, Western Democracies have largely failed to use them. The #USA is the worst example, of course - but #Germany also flunked the test, as evidenced by how the authorities and political parties failed to take a strong stand againat the #AfD (including failing to start the process of outlawing them).

And if legal and less-violent actions are not taken... then sooner or later illegal and violent actions are the only ones left, especially once the fascists have already taken over (as it has happened in the USA).

And as a tactic for opposing fascism, I think these attacks on Tesla cars is actually one of the more effective one. It hurts one of the biggest promoters of fascism - #ElonMusk - in his pocketbook, as it sinks the value of his brand. And it sends a clear message to other oligarchs that promoting fascism will have real, negative consequences for _their_ bottom lines as well.

So I and anyone else who might be put off by these attacks should ask ourselves:

"Do I have a better tactic for fighting fascism - and if so, am I actively using it?"

I live in Germany, where we don't yet have an outright fascist takeover like in the USA yet (again...). So I am leery of criticizing those Americans who are actually on the front lines of fighting fascism, and who are risking their own lives and freedom for this.

#antifascism
https://apnews.com/article/tesla-vandalism-musk-trump-domestic-extremism-7576c03393a733eaf34b793e86ad1a6f

The study of #folklore is very useful for understanding how popular narratives develop and spread.

And popular narratives are at the center of the modern #CultureWars . The technology is different, but the fundamentals are still similar.

#fascism #antifascism

What to do when a cat's thoughts turn to murder?

#Germany #folktale #folklore #cat @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/killer-cats-65362903

If Germans own #Hitler - and we obviously do - then Americans definitely own #Trump .

Saying: "I didn't vote for him!" Is no longer enough. Now the question is: "Do you comply, or do you resist?"

The Germans who grew up after WWII also asked these questions to the generations of their parents and grandparents... and the latter often failed to have good answers.

#USPolitics

Once I have finally recovered from this damnable cold, I want to do an "Ask Me Anything About German Folklore" video stream.

What kinds of topics do you want me to talk about?

#Germany #folklore #MythologyMonday

My gaming group clearly voted for #DnD5e for our current campaign. While I don't _mind_ running it, I really hope I get a chance to run #Pathfinder2E one day...

#ttrpg

You've read the tales, now get the books!

#Germany #folktale #folklore #book
https://sunkencastles.com/the-books/

For the record, the notion that storks brought the babies is latter-day revisionism.

German #folklore tells us that they are pulled from wells and ponds!

The first exit polls for the German federal elections are in. They... suck, but they could have been even worse:

CDU - CSU - 29%
AFD - 19.5%
SPD - 16%
Greens - 13.5%
Die Linke - 8.5%
FDP - 4.9%
BSW - 4.7%

- As expected, the fascist #AfD has become the second biggest political party, but at least they haven't reached the 20% they had been polling in all the opinion polls so far.

- If the exist polls remain true, the #FDP has barely missed reaching the 5% threshold for re-entering parliament. Since their "accomplishments" in the last three years largely consisted in sabotaging the work of the coalition government they were a part of, and they have turned from being a party of personal liberty advocated to a party of crypto-fascists #ElonMusk fans, this is no great loss (sorry #Lindner , but Elon Musk will always love those more who are blatant about their fascism!)

- The #BSW will also fail to enter parliament. Since they are basically Putin's stooges intended to channel votes away from leftist democratic parties, this is no great loss.

- After having been predicted to drop out of parliament due to the rise of the BSW, the #Linke has managed to pull of a stunning reversal and gained 8.5% of the vote. I may not agree with all of their position, but German politics desperately needs a party that stands for clear leftist policies - something that both the #SPD and the #Grünen have failed at in recent years.

It looks the most viable option will be a coalition led by the #CDU with the #SPD as a junior partner. We've already had those under #Merkel , and they were long years of stagnation - but a chancellor #Merz will have fewer principles than Merkel had, and far more cruelty. He is a #Blackrock creature through and through. And while he has made some noises that indicate that he largely recognizes Trump for what he is, I suspect that in the end he will do what the oligarchy wants of him.

Hopefully the oligarchy doesn't want him to form a coalition with the AfD, but we shall see... 😞

#Germany #GermanElections #GermanPolitics
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/ckg82wwrwy6t

@cwebber I've been saying for weeks that they are doing #Gleichschaltung .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung

American readers with an interest in #cooking, hear me out - I have a proposal!

I know that the next few years are going to suck a lot for anyone who is not a TechBro billionaire and their chosen cronies. Which means that a lot of people have to get rather thrifty with their dwindling finances.

Which brings me to my idea: There are a _lot_ of old cookbooks in the public domain - published during WWI, the Great Depression, and other times - which focus on "economic" or "thrifty" cooking.

Thus, a writer with relevant interest could revisit all those recipes, update them for the modern area, and publish them together with economic analysis of what aspects of meal preparation were cheap and which were were pricey then, along with what makes them pricey _now_ - including how late-stage #Capitalism screws the consumer over!

The end result would be a book that combines advice for thrifty cooking with increasing political awareness in these trying times! How does this sound for a book idea?

#USPolitics #writing #WritingCommunity #history

Sources for the covers:
https://archive.org/details/war-cookbook-for-american-women
https://archive.org/details/practicalcookboo00howa
https://archive.org/details/food-economy-images
https://archive.org/details/left-overs-13

Looking at how #LLM are promoted by their fans, I've come to the conclusion:

Pretty much everyone from a #STEM background - myself definitely included! - owes the #Humanities a huge apology.

I mean, I get it. When I was a young student of physics, it was easy for me to sneer at philosophy students and whatnot. After all, _we_ dealt with hard, measurable facts, while _those_ people dealt with some weird thought constructs that had no relevancy to the real world - right?

But this is the end result - #TechBro culture and a vast portion of our entire economy using digital bullshit generators instead of critical thinking, and using this to lead us into a fascist future where either Truth or Facts have become meaningless.

Mea culpa.

Read the tale of the Dread Pirate Störtebeker - Scourge of the German Seas!

#Germany #folktale #folklore #pirate @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/scourge-of-seas-29405870

A strange man lurks around churches who will buy black tomcats for inscrutable purposes.

#Germany #folktale #folklore #magic #money #cat @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/in-for-penny-92175651

One of my major priorities for this year is to publish my books on platforms other than #Amazon (there are some things that are higher priority, but not many).

So what self-publishing platforms exist for

- ebooks
- Print on Demand books

which do _not_ requires exclusive contracts or similar restrictions?

#amwriting

People have always sought magical protection.

Whether in matters of war - or love.

#Germany #folktale #folklore @germany @folklore
https://www.patreon.com/posts/protection-in-62185923