Saying this up front: I hate Big Energy, and I would die happy if everyone stopped using all fossil fuels right now.
Operation Epstein Shield, aka Trump's war of choice with Iran, is highlighting how unsustainable our system is. It needs to change immediately.
Let's stop using plastic. Let's convert to local and regional regenerative agriculture. Let's make effective insulation available to everyone. Let's improve our transmission lines. Let's eat less meat.
@ljwrites I really don't think the NaNo model is helpful beyond kick starting people into writing. Because it's not just "do it every day", but meet a certain quota of words. (I say that as someone who has participated a few times and is friends with the former admins in my city.)
For one installment to my last series, I wrote 60K words in two weeks. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and this was the fourth installment. So it can be done, but it's not always a good thing.
@ljwrites Ultimately, it's better to have something to work with than a blank page, but the first draft shouldn't be a race, right?
And maybe that's my big problem with it, because it feeds this BS publishing/production model that is mostly helpful if you're trying to chase a trend. And I get it, but it's very difficult to create something original that way.
I went to high school with an illustrator whose work seems to be pretty popular. Just judging by her output, it seems like she is regularly bursting with ideas. And good for her! But for those of us that need to let something percolate, the rush isn't helpful.
Of course, if this were how we were supporting ourselves, okay, sure, start snapping your fingers and getting things done. But if we have the luxury of being able to write without that pressure, no need to impose artificial constraints.
@Lana this is not good. I want people to refuse unconstitutional orders that violate human rights, but with our luck, some air force commander will declare himself emperor (pronoun specified on purpose).
Do NOT be surprised. As I've mentioned, I regularly lobby to help raise cash assistance grants to the poorest of the poor--those who aren't even at *half* of the poverty line. Every year, because our legislature lets vulnerable people fester.
Also: ICE is taking people AFTER they have served their sentences. After decades, they're still "the worst of the worst"?
@gme@dalias@kibcol1049 You will all be happy to know that my son and his girlfriend, also an art major, nodded as soon as I suggested that abstract art might be one big money laundering scam. And then we quickly segued to Warhol, whom they basically characterized as a grifter who made memes and would, if alive today, use AI for art.
The SAVE America Act would screw the #AAPI community.
Per APIAVote.org:
"20 percent of AAPIs don’t have a birth certificate on hand, 14 percent of AAPIs don’t have a passport, and only 8 percent have naturalization papers readily available."
Also, "AAPI adult citizens are also roughly two-thirds foreign-born, meaning issues naturalized citizens face would be disproportionately higher for AAPIs than for other communities."
@gme I'm disturbed thinking about this, because I think it calls into question not just art that was popularized during those periods, but also the analysis and "movements" that were built up to, perhaps, justify them.
My son is an illustration major, and he can't stand abstract works. Given the period those became popular, I'm starting to worry that he might not be entirely wrong.
@dalias Oh, I completely agree. Ever since I read the story about Hunter Biden's million dollar amateur art at a gallery, I haven't been able to look at "fine art" without thinking "money laundering". @kibcol1049
@kibcol1049 The first number is the one that baffles me, because I can't believe Epstein would have been good for that. I tend to think those big numbers were a combination of hush money and access to other people.
Indie author, parent, human rights enthusiast, cancer survivor. Proud Korean, proud Jew. Life's too short, so I block Substack posters as well as NYT posts, and mute BlueSky references. I hate crypto and AI, but everyone else here does, too.Picture is a Mother's Day present from my son and his girlfriend. Foreground is a picture from the Boston Commons.