Been reading wikipedia about our new lords & masters, so far Bezos, Musk, & Thiel, looking for what neurological defect may account for their lack of empathy or compassion. Sure they drop 100mil here & there for philanthropic cred, & sure it's an astounding windfall for the beneficiaries, but it totals to less than 1% of their wealth. For the religious a tithe is 10% of one's income. Seems like the common christian would be flipping tables over this level of greed. #Politics#Economy#Charity
@krystyna When the Abrahamic religions introduced the concept of christ to soften the image of a vengeful god of fear, they also included the "forgiveness for your sins" clause so you could kinda pick & choose which laws you'd uphold & which you'd ask forgiveness for.
2/ The flip side of sharing - appropriation, taking w/o permission. The topic comes up here, often in regards to culture. I get that some people are protective of their culture, particularly when they have been persecuted for it. But there's not always someone to ask, when a better idea is discovered & should be adopted. And cultural blending can produce some wonderful results. Ask first if possible. I share an example told in the alt text of a few photos, as instance limits to 500 characters
3/ This thread is mostly about homemade things, & some of the thoughts involved in the process. When my good friend & next door tipi neighbor got engaged, he & his sweetie bought a piece of the ranch to build something more substantial on. They sketched their idea on some notebook paper & asked if I could build it. I had built lots of fence, a couple canoes, & pounded nails on my folks place, so I said sure, got some graph paper to work out some details, & got to it. Alt text descriptions.
5/ More #homemade things - I grew up in the Beatles/Stones era, when fellas thought a #guitar could win a girls heart. I couldn’t make my fingers dance over the strings any better than my feet on the floor, but always thought a better guitar would help, as if shoes would help my feet. The ones that cost as much as a good used car were easier to play, my money went for the car, so if I were to have what I wanted I’d have to make it myself. But before I could do that I had to learn a few things.
4/ A few of some homey things I made. When I was a tipi dweller I started making furniture out of twigs and logs found in the woods nearby. They don’t require many tools - a pruning saw, sharp knife, a drill with some forstner bits, & an orbital sander if you want to make them smooth. I’d also do a lot of hand sanding & rubbing tung oil in for a finish. An imagination & some trial & error.
6/ The thing I really wanted was an arch back 12-string because they can make a lot of noise, and they look cool. They are the devil to tune though. No actual luthiering was committed in building this, that takes actual skill in tuning the top thickness & struts, which is a gift, or acquired through lots of mentoring and experience. #Guitar#Music#homemade#Diy
7/ The Alta, WY cabin I built back around '09, designed it to be super insulated with solar assisted radiant floor heat, triple pane windows, 12" thick walls consisting of 2 -2x4 walls w/4" gap for thermal break, R40 walls & R60 ceiling. 12volt dc led lighting system on a deep cycle battery so house stays lit in a power outage. Built to last, locally sourced, & efficient. #Homemade#House#Woodwork#Wyoming
1/ If you bake some good cookies or a cake, & someone comes by, a friend, a new neighbor, a relative, what do you do, hide the cookies, or share? If there are things you know that would be helpful to others, or if your culture has elements that are healthy & sustainable, what do you do? A thing I like about #mastodon, lots of #sharing, w/o imposition or obligation.
For the past 12,000 years earth has been in a goldilocks zone for human habitation. Before that our population was kept in check by conditions less favorable. Over the past few hundred years we have voluntarily squandered our "this is fine" place for something more challenging. Buckle up & put on your thinking caps, we've got another epic to ride out.
Mom & Dad were dust bowl/depression kids in OK, but they never talked about it much. I just got around to watching Ken Burns film - references to the worst environmental/economic disaster in history, caused by greed. Black blizzards, dust pneumonia, mass homelessness. I think a lot of people have little comprehension of history & how bad things can get. CW for the full nearly 4 hr series - it's graphic. A 1 minute trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmalQfucyIE #Environment#ClimateChange#Immigration#History
@DrALJONES H/T https://toad.social/@JamesWNeal@mstdn.social/112824422918016684 for the link to a new yorker article about the Conservative Partnership Institute, a Jim DeMint/Mark Meadows production, which is every bit as pernicious as the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. They launched America First Legal - Miller's anti immigration org, & dozens other of related orgs. CPI's website for those interested. https://www.cpi.org #Politics#GOP#Project2025
As a former protest voter I have to urge others considering that tactic, one of only two men will have the nuclear codes next year, and your vote for Bugs Bunny or Donald Duck may be enough for our sucky Electoral College to place those codes in the hands of the worst of the two. Don't kid yourself about there isn't that much difference, they're sure as shit is. I'd much rather vote for Hakeem Jeffries or Jamie Raskin, or someone else of that caliber, but that's not an option. #Politics#Vote
The steel industry has been growing exponentially the past few decades. It relies heavily on coal, oil, & gas to do so. The coal, oil, & gas industries rely heavily on steel, so does the military & wind turbines. There is a feed back loop that needs interrupting. A conclusion from this very detailed article - "The only solution is to reduce material use overall." https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2024/03/how-to-escape-from-the-iron-age/ #Environment#Climate#Energy#Industry
TIL Mothers' Day "—actually started in the 1870s, when the sheer enormity of the death caused by the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War convinced writer and reformer Julia Ward Howe that women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage."
@LeftistLawyer Consumerism fuels the engine of capitalism, capitalism pushes fuel production, it's a snake eating its tail. Starve capitalism of its fuel, quit buying so much of its shit. Make something yourself, be content without the newest, bestest thing on the market.
@LeftistLawyer@peterbutler Excellent essay. Another side of the mental illness cube is micronutrient imbalance resulting from a food system designed around profit rather than health. Mineral deficiencies or toxicities can contribute to anxiety, depression, aggression, etc. Foods "fortified" with synthetic nutrients, while nutritious on paper, lack the bioavailability that diverse real food has. A poorly fed biosystem leads to poor decision making.
"When Gabby Petito, a young blonde woman, went missing in Wyoming in 2021, her story was "mentioned 398 times on Fox News, 346 times on CNN and 100 times on MSNBC."
In the 53 days since Westwolf's death, her name has not been mentioned once on cable news."