posted by sabotabby at 07:23am on 2025-06-11 under books
Just finished: Dakwäkãda Warriors by Cole Pauls, I don't have tons to say about this comic—it'll take you maybe an hour to read if that, and it's really cute and fun, and then you read the context around it and it's quite moving and beautiful as well. It's basically a language revitalization project wrapped up in a pew-pew-pew space opera story. It's cool that this exists and I want there to be more of it.
Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot. Listen, cozy horror and other cozy authors! I will make you a deal. You get one (1) scene where the asexual protagonist comes out to their appropriately diverse love interest and they talk about their sexuality and consent in a mature, healthy way, infused with Tumblr therapyspeak, and agree to just hold hands or whatever. In exchange, I want y'all to try excise or subvert toxic tropes like having your main human antagonist being a woman who is haunted by a ghost no one else can see and locked up in a mental institution for 25 years, who has no agency at all, and who at the end realizes the error of her ways and is...cut loose to just be homeless and wander forever, I guess????
Like, aesthetically, I hate cozy. I fucking hate it. I try really hard to not judge the taste of people who like it, because intellectually I get the appeal and there's nothing wrong with liking what you like, but it's very much not for me. And when I have to read and rate a cozy book, I try to keep the ideal reader in mind, not me, a grim and cynical person who likes messy characters and tension in my storytelling. I think there are some cozy, or cozy-adjacent books that are done well (Regency and Regency+magic does low-stakes, mostly good characters in ways that I enjoy, for example) and I don't want to judge the entire subgenre either.
But I do think that there's a tendency for specifically cozy fiction to use didactic storytelling (casts include one of everyone and/or a lot of twofer characters, but these identities tend to be very shallowly written except for where they reflect the author's, conflicts are easily resolved by talking things out, good behaviour is rewarded and bad behaviour is punished or reformed, discussions about emotion or sexuality are always direct and never in conflict). So if you are going to write a book that includes, for example, instructions for the reader on how to navigate a relationship with an ace person, or how to approach therapy for a mental illness, I'm going to also need you to examine your work for unintentional messaging in a way that I wouldn't necessarily do if you're writing, say, Gothic horror where the protagonist can't decide whether she wants the vampire to eat her or fuck her.
Which is to say that in a world where we get to see multiple Zoom therapy sessions, I do not buy that a mental institution merely drugs a character and does not attempt to help her heal at all. I think that sets up a dichotomy between Good Mental Illness (you know, the kind that makes you pretty and kinda tragic) and Bad Mental Illness (where you get your mess all over other people/try to burn down the family house) that is not good or wholesome at all.
Also, the climactic battle at the end was a huge WTF.
If you, like me, would like to join in on Cozy Horror Discourse multiple years after it was live, here are some links I appreciated:
Currently reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky. This one starts with a robot valet murdering his master and not knowing why he did it, so, promising beginning. Humanity increasingly relies on robots to do everything, and as a result, is dying out. Charles, the valet in question, doesn't know what to do without explicit orders, and so he reports to Diagnostics, only to find that robot repairs are backed up due to funding cuts that have eliminated the entire human staff. Also he may have developed a Protagonist Virus that gives him agency and self-awareness, which he very much doesn't want.
The voice in this is great—the first two chapters are basically the robots navigating their way through the murder without being able to deviate from their programming, and it's bitingly satirical and very funny. I'm rather enjoying this.
Now on to the turkeys, so bunnyhugger approves of my sending lots of pictures up another day.
Part of me is sorry not to have this turkey's head in focus but part of me thinks that makes the picture.
I think this is the same turkey, just in focus.
Now the turkey just looks like a muppet, though.
Turkey seems annoyed I say the pose makes him look like a muppet and yet ...
Here's one that's a little more chill about being photographed.
And immediately the turkey tries to break out of the bounds of my camera frame.
I understand hygiene as a way to control and limit disease spread especially at something like this where you gather birds from all over the county and then disperse them again, but 5 pm Friday either means wash the birds before the fair starts (in which case, why leave the sign up after that?) or after they've been living together nearly a full week, which seems like maybe too late to do anything. I'm not sure what the point of the sign is, is what I'm saying.
Pile of chickens in some clean wood chips.
And on into the expo hall that has, among other things, the photography exhibit.
Some fairy gardens on display here.
A track for a guinea pig races that I'm sorry to have missed because, like, have you ever seen guinea pig races? Your typical guinea pig can go as many as five waddling steps before remembering they could be not racing instead so it's some fun trying to get them to move.
Trivia: In 1925 the four major (American) newsreel producers averaged a weekly net profit of about forty thousand dollars. By 1928, with six major companies making newsreels (Paramount and MGM had started their own lines, though MGM's was produced by Hearst, itself a longtime newsreel producer), the average was a total weekly net loss of about fifteen thousand dollars. Source: The American Newsreel, 1911 - 1967, Raymond Fielding.
Currently Reading: BBC History Magazine, Vol 24 No 4, Editor Rob Attar.
Here's a random and utterly incomplete list of some queer movies where there's a happy ending. Sometimes after lots of violence, sometimes after doomful awkwardness, and sometimes just happy.
Bound (The Wachowskis first directing credit, before The Matrix. Content note: the film earns its R rating with sexual content but also with some very intense moments of violence.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bound_(1996_film) (Paramount+, Kanopy)
Here's some queer movies I haven't seen that I keep meaning to check out that I think are probably in the same category or at least aren't too doomful, maybe? Ammonite Booksmart Bottoms Bros Carol D.E.B.S. Fire Island Love Lies Bleeding Moonlight My Own Private Idaho Nyad Power of the Dog Red, White, and Royal Blue Rustin Saving Face TransAmerica Will & Harper
posted by leiacat at 11:05am on 2025-06-10 under food
Kong Pocha is the second location of a Baltimore Korean pub in Columbia, in the spot where K-Manna briefly was (next to the noteworthy Boro Kabob off Snowden). Where K-Manna had all the personableness of a fast-food joint (while not being fast in the least), now the decor charmingly hints at pretending to be outdoors, with light-adorned awnings accenting the walls and tables separated by movable mini-fences. Rather than experimenting with many nifty offerings like rice bowls and omelets and noodles we had soy garlic chicken. The portion was sufficient for the both of us and came with mayo-slathered fries. The chicken reminded me of Seoul Pub - irregularly sized chunks like someone's grandma might make. I'm usually unexcited about fries, but the the mayo combination worked great.
Chin - located in Ellicott City over by Honey Pig - brands itself "A Xi-an Style Restaurant", that being (I learned) a location in Northern China. Their speciality is hand-torn noodles, most of which come in spicy or pork or spicy pork.
While the place had many vacant seats, we were directed to sign into the waiting list of zero on an electronic screen (which also permitted ordering take-out). We were seated within a couple of minutes, so no big deal, one supposes.
The waiter expertly guided us through the no-pork-or-spicy options. I went for Northwestern style beef noodles, was given a choice of wide or narrow noodles and confirmed that I didn't want any chili oil in it. This landed me a beefy, gingery broth with rice noodles and thin slices of fat-specked beef; I was reminded a bit of pho, not so much in the specific flavor profile as in the comfort-meal vibe. (The specks looked ominous, but did not make for problematic texture).
Spouse went for a seasonal mutton dish. The herby green broth concealed cellophane noodles and finely sliced vegetables, and came with separate little bowls of chilis (which for my sake Spouse skipped), scallions, thin slices of meat, and a pita-like flatbread. That last item was dried to a nearly-cracker consistency, and we were instructed to break it into whatever-sized pieces one chose and throw them in the broth. If my soup was a warm blanket, this one was a picnic on the lawn. I added the beverage described verbosely as "Chinese Osmanthus Sour Plum Drink (Suan Mei Tang)", which was reminiscent of the better less-sweet grades of plum wine in non-alcoholic form, and I should see about finding that in a store sometime. Enough of soup leftovers came home with us to make a serviceable lunch next day. Definitely a place to revisit... though possibly on a cooler, cloudier day.
Ellicott City Diner had opened in the former Double T in the same strip mall as above at the top of the pandemic; we finally got around to trying it. Under new ownership the diner retained the general theme of overwhelming multi-page menus, but I was on a mission - EC Diner had bragged about being a contender for the county's best crabcakes, and has a Wednesday special of their crabcake sandwich with a soup or salad and a desert-of-the-month for about their regular price of just the sandwich. I've been meaning to try it, but they only have it for eat-in, which during the pandemic annoyed me into not prioritizing them.
I should explain for non-Marylanders: crabcakes here are a big deal. If you've had a "Maryland-style" crabcake anywhere outside of Maryland (and possibly a handful of DC places, though don't bet on it), you've never had a Maryland crabcake. If it doesn't have large lumps of crab, it's not a Maryland crabcake - at best it's an extra-large appetizer crab ball, which are permitted to exist, but do not deserve the title of crabcake. Or, it got lost on its way from Virginia. If it's seasoned with garlic or parsley or visible amounts of black pepper, it's not a Maryland crabcake. (Maryland crabcakes do have Old Bay in them in various proportions, and often come garnished with more). If it contains vegetables, it's not a Maryland crabcake - Louisiana and the Carolinas get to exist if they must, but should stay in their lane. If it's shaped like a hockey puck rather than a conical heap with identifiable lumps, it might possibly be a Maryland crabcake, but it probably shipped frozen. If there's more binder than crab, it's definitely not a Maryland crabcake, and it should be ashamed of itself. And if you think Marylanders are obsessed with the whole Maryland thing, you are correct, and we're ok with it.
Anyway, the verdict is that the crabcake is worthy - a generous serving for the price, with balanced seasoning and good crab-to-binder ratio with ample lumps. The soup of the day was cream of broccoli, which was fine; the dessert was creme brulee, which I was too full to eat in place, and by the next day it wasn't particularly brulee and I couldn't tell if it ever was crispy, but that aside it tasted good enough. (As far as "best"... possibly best-for-the-price in the casual category. Cozy's was downright disappointing twice; Timbuktu never disappoints but is pricier and not quite in the county for the purists; G&M is the golden standard but is a bit further out, Lee Lynn are pleasant and with the best summer ambiance, Floyd's are overseasoned, and Corner Stable overrated in every way. And Hudson Coastal are so good about every other kind of seafood that can't be found elsewhere that I've not actually tried the crabcakes there yet. Double T used to be very, very good when I first found them, and this is comparable, but they'd skimped on portions and ratios a bit over the years.)
The diner does have some wines and beers and cocktails; we didn't try them this time. They also have milkshakes - both regular and the trendy over-engineered with too many items perched precariously on top. Spouse had a classic milkshake and reviewed it favorably. He also had a Greek salad; when that arrived without the anchovy they apologized for having run out and offered to make something else, but then found the anchovies and by way of an apology served him a double serving of the fishies to add to the salad, so he was ultimately content, too.
Which probably adds up to more going out for meals than I really should indulge in, but lined up is a return to Ram's Head Waterfront for the sunset.
posted by malada at 07:27am on 2025-06-10 under health
Smile! We're putting a camera down your throat! Open wide!
Although I haven't been having any serious tummy issues lately, it's been a few years since they last looked around down there and decided to check things out again.
They knocked me out (well sort of) so I was definitely not feeling any pain or discomfort. They snipped something small and suspicious and reported excess mucus. There was other minor things I'll DuckDuckGo later because it's all in medical jargon.
Although I was 'awake' after the procedure I didn't return to full consciousness until I was back in the car and pulling up to the driveway. (Yes I had a driver.) Late breakfast then bed for a few hours. I was still wobbly on my feet the rest of the day but was mostly okay.
Over time the drugs wore off and all normal aches and pains returned - along with an irritated throat. I'm still okay, just more away how much I hurt an a day to day basis. Mostly muscular. It's annoying.
About a year and a half ago, the president of my synagogue started a project to merge ours with another synagogue. We were supposed to be exploring other options for our future too, but the leaders were really only investigating this one path. Some of us members had concerns about both that path and how this was being done, but power imbalances are a thing, and yesterday there was a vote.
There've been plenty of irregularities, and also some maligning by leaders of dissenters, and at this point it feels like the damage has been done even if the deal ultimately falls through. I've lost faith in our leaders, am disappointed by the unnecessary discord and condescension, and am saddened by the drop in civility and goodwill affecting people I care about. It is possible for people to disagree constructively and work together to address those differences, but it doesn't feel like that happened here. To me this felt more like a conquest than democracy, but as a member of the minority I'm naturally biased.
Maybe this was the swift kick I've been needing for a while to join a movement more aligned with me. I joined Temple Sinai despite it being Reform, not because of it, but our leaders seem to be more interested in the future of Reform Judaism here than in the future of Temple Sinai. My long-time rabbi retired a few years ago, recent trends have been leftward, and I think I've stayed only for my friends (a pattern in my life, I know). I don't want to lose those friendships, but it's time to go make some new friends too.
I dunno, what do you guys want me to rant about? The Freedom Flotilla? LA vs. ICE? The fact that my government is planning more pipelines while sending in the army to deal with out-of-control wildfires? Or, closer to home, Bill 5 or the Toronto bubble zone law, or...?
This is why people curl up and retreat into fiction.
When I invented the web, I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going to end in the USA. ... Democracy depends on freedom of speech. Freedom of connection, with any application, to any party, is the fundamental social basis of the Internet, and, now, the society based on it. Let’s see whether the United States is capable of acting according to its important values, or whether it is, as so many people are saying, run by the misguided short-term interest of large corporations. I hope that Congress can protect net neutrality, so I can continue to innovate in the internet space. I want to see the explosion of innovations happening out there on the Web, so diverse and so exciting, continue unabated. ~ Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web (1955 - )
My right knee is healing, and stretching worked significantly better than yesterday. I even did a few carefully selected PT exercises this afternoon.
I can do more things standing up, and walking around the apartment is easier. However, I seem to have been leaning too much on the other leg, because my left knee started to hurt earlier. Not badly, but enough that I am putting the cane aside for the moment.
update Monday, 6/9: my knees feel mostly OK today. I am still being careful about walking a lot or standing too long. I just got the mail, figuring the two steps down to the mailboxes would be a useful check of how I'm doing. It was doable, but did hurt a little; I'm glad I decided not to go out. (The sidewalk is down another half dozen stairs, which are a bit more difficult than the ones inside, but the main thing is that this way I only had to climb back up two stairs.)
I heard from the GI doctor's office this morning, and have an appointment Friday at 10:30, which will be telemedicine. I hope my knees will be feeling a lot better by then, but if she had wanted to see me in person, I would have called a lyft and taken the quad cane with me just in case.
Here you are. Here, in this holy space, on this ground that is holy because you are here.
Here you are, in flesh and bone, filling up this body that belongs to you alone. Your pumping heart is a wonder because it keeps you alive. Your loving heart is a blessing because it keeps all of us alive.
The Spirit of Love has a home in you. May we all see that love in you and let our hearts become mirrors for the compassion at your core.
The Spirit of Justice has a home in you. May we light our wicks from one another until we are all aflame, until we burn out every prejudice we carry in these bones.
I mean, I arrived yesterday around five thirty (over 2.5 hours drive from Somerville, _oof_), but it is Saturday night of my first actual session as a camper this year. Of, I guess, four (not counting the work weekend or the crewunion).
I'm very pleased about it!
It's LCFD's spring camp, which has been running in general since 1989 or so, but at Pinewoods since 2023. Pinewoods is starting off the year Gay As Hell, since last weekend was their first camper session --the Boston Queer Tango-- and now is us, the Lavender Country and Folk Dancers.
It is _so good_ to be at an explicitly queer dance camp, full of explicitly queer people. Yes, absolutely, some of those people are the kind of weird where they have never felt misaligned about their assigned gender or are only interested in people with different genders from themself, but even the cishets are the kinds who are excited to be at a big gay camp full of lovely queer people and it makes the space _amazing_. Just...loving, open, gentle, good-hearted, and fucking funny and sexy as well.
(As I remarked to several people tonight, as I looked around the wide range of finery that is the "dress up in fancy dress or costume" Saturday evening dance, "oh no, everyone is hot and I am gay".)
I saw ballgowns, leather hot pants, loud print Hawai'in shirts, mesh tops with harnesses, at least two people with tails, and the usual evening dance array of swoopy twirly swishy fun. I myself was fairly understated, which is to say, my black-and-rainbow kilt, a formal black collared shirt and grey vest, and a loud-as-fuck rainbow bowtie. Oh, and my makeup is essentially "Furiosa, but make it gay".
Beyond the incredible highlights that are just "queer community" and "gay dancing", I am having such a lovely time with the regular programming. This morning I went to a "contra refresher" class explicitly named as a "show up and tell us what you want to work on" sort of basics class. It was being taught by Chris Ricciotti, who is an _incredible_ teacher --I quite literally sat down after it was over and frantically scribbled notes about his flawless ability to mix the dancers around and the fascinating parallels between a robin's chain and a hay.
After lunch, Chris was running a "queer dance history" panel, which was half him sharing and half open to the class. It was amazing --something like 40 people were crammed into the camphouse to hear and share their stories. I cried repeatedly --tearing up at the tales of the first time someone ever tried a skirt on (including one gentleman, at 89, doing so to show support of his trans granddaughter, and then discovering that he _loves_ skirts and immediately sought out more) and of a couple celebrating their twentieth year together, and tenth year married (and especially counting back in my head to remember that means they very well might've married the first year it was legal country-wide. Remember that the DoMA is not even ten years old.).
Mostly I cried with joy at the earnest, soppy lovefest happening back and forth at the panel between the elders, who were expressing their joy that other people are taking up the torch and keeping the community going, and the youth, who were expressing their joy that they didn't have to start from zero, that the groundwork had been laid. Everyone joyous at how far we have come, and excited to find out how far we can go.
The straights don't know what they're missing, when they box themselves up miserably into binary assignments and strict policing of their own and each other's presentation.
The only mar has been how incredibly _tired_ I am in general. But even that is coming with comfort: this afternoon I took a ninety minute nap, and I settled in to sleep while listening to the soft sound of a light rain in the nearby trees. I woke up to the delicious pounding of pouring rain on the roof of my beloved little cabin, and mama nature did me the courtesy of even ceasing shortly after so that I could walk to the dining hall without getting entirely soaked to the skin.
(Yes, the subtext is that I am once again in Kitty Alone, the best cabin in all of Pinewoods. I truly try not to be a diva about it, and I truly am grateful that I keep winding up in this perfect little paradise, where I'm so familiar with the space that unpacking is a breeze.)
So because of that, I'm off to bed now. No more rain, but the trees are gently dripping, and the moon is shining through the clouds. This is my home.
Click through to see the video. You really, really should. Sound is irrelevant.
Text: "Tanks, fighting vehicles and howitzers arrive in Washington, D.C. ahead of next week's military parade. They departed from Texas on June 2." Two minutes and forty seconds.
Allegedly that train is a mile long and is transporting:
I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking that maybe the guy who attempted one coup already bringing a well-armed military force into our capitol city and, crucially, within artillery-range of the Pentagon, is just throwing himself a birthday party, but also maybe not.
ETA: For those of you confused by this, thinking, but doesn't he already control the military? You might want to watch this video about the rise of Xi Jinping.
Now, obviously, Trump would never play a long game like Xi did. But, 1) there are other ways to achieve the same end and 2) he doesn't have to, because his buddies, the Dominionists, did.
Over the course of about six hours this week, the weather went from "pleasant warm early-summer" to "holy bananas, it is hot and sticky high summer" and I was not emotionally prepared for it. But I am promised thunderstorms today, and I got cucumbers at the farmer's market, and will finish swapping out the cozy linens for the crisp ones, and all of that will help.
As it was written in the spreadsheets, so it has come to pass.
New project: Upon A Star by PigeonCoop Designs from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest.
Have I learned my lesson about dark Aida, many similar shades of one colour, and fractional stitches? No. Have I learned to check HOW MUCH of each shade I'll need when using threads from my stash? Also no.
Floss toss to confirm I still like the colors:
The first few stitches.
First project to clear off the backlog: 1960s mod lady for the cover of my sewing notebook. There will be text "Sewing Notes" vertically in the blank area on the right. I did the French knots for the eyes a while ago and they have gone horribly wrong - the knots have both pulled through to the back! Lesson learned, don't do french knots as part of a tour of traveling backstitch. I am just going to do new knots over the top of them.
Bonus, I found the missing small Permin kit tucked away in the folder with the mod fashion lady! I guess this was my emergency backup stitching when we moved. Way to go, Past Diane! You put it in a safe place all right.
May was not a great month for reading. I didn't listen to audiobooks on my trips for work. I think I am feeling burned out, which reduced my capacity to enjoy reading. I think exercising my reading muscles is the only way out of this.
I did read "Fuzzy Nation" by John Scalzi, "Bloodmarked" by Tracy Deonn, and "Go Luck Yourself" by Sara Raasch.
"Fuzzy Nation" was a cute little book that I was able to borrow digitally from the library. It was just the thing when I was out of town. Scalzi (with permission from the original author's surviving family) took a story from the classic age of hard science fiction and did a "cover" with some more modern themes. It worked. I could see the bones of the old tradition, and also admire what he did with it.
"Bloodmarked" is the second book in a series. The third book is out in hardback. The fourth book is not out yet. The characters are compelling and the action is fast paced. It's stressful to care so much, but putting characters in stressful situations is how fiction works.
I read "Go Luck Yourself" which is the sequel to "Nightmare Before Kissmass." I like the series, and I hope the author can write more in this world, but she doesn't sound hopeful about that on her Tumblr. I liked the first one a little more, but that might be partly because you need more world-building in a first book, and I like that part.
posted by vvalkyri at 11:13am on 2025-06-06 under jew
I haven't read any dreamwidth for a little bit, but over on Facebook I think there's only one non-jewish person I've seen say anything about the fire attack in Boulder on mostly elderly people walking in solidarity with hamas's hostages.
I don't have time to write it right now but I definitely want to write more.
And this one is every time I read it a slight bit more infuriating, because it came out in an email blast from new republic, and barely manages to accept that nobody deserves to be hit with a flamethrower, but instead spends all its time on why the act was the opposite of politically useful, as well as a bunch of time on what awful Netanyahu is doing. Violence against Jews is tragic and undermines the Palestinian cause
Veterans Rally today at 2EDT on the Mall near Air and Space, so nearest Metros are L'enfant and Archives. It's also live streamed Unite4Veterans.org, and they've got the Dropkick Murphys.
Later today a vigil at WWII. Stuff with Cliff Cash the rest of the weekend, like at FOX 'news' and Heritage. And Non-cooperation training with FreeDC tomorrow.
Later this evening, I just noticed there's celebrating nonmonagamy with World Pride. I think I'm pretty much missing world pride?
Tomorrow, the World Pride parade. 50501 is walking in it. Acro at Franklin Park to watch the parade. I'm sure all sorts of really cool stuff in the evening.
Sunday, some sort of Pride March to the Lincoln.
Here, we will go to Food Bank in an hour ish, not sure for the evening. There's a kink place if you wanted to drive like over an hour and have sweetie be bored and I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to do.
Tomorrow and Sunday nights I'll be mostly on my own because EverQuest. I do know a couple people in the city, but I think both of them are busy sunday. And borrowing a car I've only driven across town to drive well over an hour feels weird anyway.
We've watched a few episodes of The Last of Us. Last night we watched Constantine.
Wednesday evening into yesterday was very very nice.
There's been a lot of very very nice. Including shower time.
I attended a webinar by one of the people whose research gets us that 3.5% figure for how much of the population on resisting authoritarianism. Just got the recording and additional resources. I feel vindicated in my insistence for the last however many years that divesting oneself of anyone the other side of Center is incredibly unhelpful and one should only do for one's own sanity. Because you need to build Bridges and connections on values.
It's Moon time so there's only so much seducing I'm trying this morning anyway. We will have the house to ourselves for at least part of tomorrow, tomorrow morning at least. Need to figure out what's manageable.
Running out of time. Need to get some coffee into me.
I remain once again mostly behind on podcasts, but maybe have a listen to It Could Happen Here's "Governing Fertility: How Pronatalist Policies Kill." (Trigger warning: It contains fairly graphic descriptions of what happened in Romania under Ceaușescu, which legit gave me nightmares as a kid.
One of the particular hallmarks of both Trump 2.0, his ex-BFF Elon (who is responsible for approximately 30,000 child deaths in his short tenure as Grima Wormtongue), and far-right populist/techbro movements around the world, is an obsession with forced pregnancy, insemination, and reproduction. Obviously this is viscerally upsetting to everyone who's read or seen Handmaid's Tale, and given that the actual supposed problems with a declining birth date are mostly solved by immigration, which they want to decrease, bears some further examination. They don't just want to ban abortion, but pursue incentives for large families headed by heterosexual married couples, punish the childless, and create eugenics programs. The one thing that they don't want to do is care for whatever children are born, or create social conditions where families can live in financial and physical stability, because then the money would be sad.
The gang looks at a number of movements, including Spain and Japan, but Romania is actually the closest parallel to Trump's plans, and it's important to confront that horror straight in the face so they you know exactly what they want for American families and children. Although, you know, eventually the Ceaușescus got shot in a basement and dragged through the streets so at least there's that to look forward to.
We had a *weird* power outage today: most but not all of the apartment lost power. Mercifully, we did not lose power to the study, where I've been sitting quietly in the air conditioning all day (the high was 35C/95F). Our first thought was that something weird had happened to our apartment's power. Cattitude spent some time on the phone with the management company, which sent a technician. The technician looked things over and told us to call Eversource.
Some piece of their equipment broke, leaving 37 customers without power, according to the outage map, including us and our upstairs neighbors who also had power in part of each apartment. It took them several hours to fix, but fortunately we got our lights back before it was entirely dark out. The oddest-feeling bit of this was realizing that I could plug my phone in to charge, in the middle of a power outage.
I have been doing almost nothing today, to avoid straining my knee*. It's feel better now than last night, but still not great, and I'm having trouble using the quad cane correctly: even moving slowly, my foot and the cane are landing with one an inch or so ahead of the other (sometimes the foot is forward, sometimes it's behind). Tomorrow is supposed to be a lot cooler, but I'm still planning to stay home, and hopefully do some stretching.
* Yes, I buried the lede in yesterday's post, because the googly-eyed train was more interesting.
Another day of Jackson County Fair pictures before ... probably another day of Jackson County Fair pictures! We'll just see what happens.
Here's a medium-size rabbit enjoying some privacy behind the bag of hay.
And here's a very small rabbit enjoying some privacy by looking directly at me.
Sprawled-out Californian gathering some solar power.
Here's a fine-looking rabbit taking on a pose to match the rectangle of the cage surrounding them.
Pretty sure this is the face of a rabbit.
Couple shorthaired black rabbits just sitting up together, telling secrets.
Hotot wishes you to know they ANGY cotton ball. But Hotots always look like ANGY cotton balls.
Rabbit who looks a bit like Colombo chatting with a rabbit who looks a bit like Roger.
This is a rabbit proud to have accomplished this much in life.
Meanwhile, outside the rabbit barn, there's stuff going on, like golf carts and horses. And say ...
I knew they had horseshoes, but horse boots is new on me.
And also horse ankle braces too, it looks like.
Trivia: In directing the city design for Philadelphia, William Penn --- a Quaker --- rejected as immodest naming city streets after himself or other people. Instead the streets would be numbered, with the cross streets named after ``things that Spontaneously Grow in the country'', such as Cherry, Chestnut, and Mulberry Street. Source: The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power, Dierdre Mask.
Currently Reading: Archaeology, May/June 2025, Editor Jarrett A Lobell. The articles are all interesting and the advertisements are all kind of creepy weird, like, ``status'' watches and stones on the ``brink of extinction'' and meteorite-ore rings.
As the subject line, quoting the 1980s jingle for the Westchester County, New York, fair suggests, I'm sharing pictures of the 2024 Jackson County, Michigan, fair.
And here's a horse enjoying their temporary accommodations and having a bag full of hay and the triumph of a bunch of ribbons plus a little statue. And say, what is that fancy aqua one with the side ribbons? Computer, enhance!
It's a 4-H Hippology Master and I guess Hippology makes sense for the term, but it sounds like making fun of horse studies.
Not sure who was supposed to be in this barn but they certainly cleaned up well!
I'm all but certain this is the place to find rabbits, though.
There's always educational panels around the animal exhibits; here's one about changing litter and doing so with less waste, which is possible because most rabbits pick a spot where they want to pee and stick to that. (Rabbit pellets are really not a problem; they're odorless and don't smoosh or anything.)
A couple Californian rabbits give me the cold shoulder to chat amongst themselves, probably about me.
Californian here looks at me and is not pleased that I'm being such a bother.
Totally different Californian also not seeing where I get off thinking I'm all that.
Here's a rabbit a couple cages down too busy being cool for me.
Tongue! Got a picture of one Californian's tongue, grooming their roommate.
I can't swear this Californian spent the night before in wild revelries but if I said they did, would you dispute my assessment?
Here's the cover for a bunny's acoustic guitar covers of Clash songs.
Trivia: The 2,751 Liberty cargo ships manufactured during World War II would, if lined up end-to-end, reach over two hundred miles. Source: Box Boats: How Container Ships Changed The World, Brian J Cudahy.
Currently Reading: Archaeology, May/June 2025, Editor Jarrett A Lobell.
Next thing was the Jackson County Fair, which I went to on my own because bunnyhugger was visiting her brother.
The fairgrounds you access through this building, which as a community recreation center I suppose was saved in the 80s.
Among the first things I saw and did not understand: Dan Dan The Farmer Man driving around. I never saw what his deal was.
Here's the carousel. They switched to tickets being pretty cheap but rides taking a gobsmacking number of tickets in trade.
The teacups ride for kids is a mere nine tickets, though.
Pharoah's Fury is a twelve-ticket ride. I like this kind of swinging ship ride; bunnyhugger is less fond of them .
Redemption games offered a couple models of space alien to win, either inflatable or plush as you like.
A Dragon Wagon kiddie coaster, which I could probably have ridden if I wanted to bang my knees up enough.
Another Ring of Fire, 12 tickets. Note that you're not able to bring a hat on the ride, which does leave you suspended upside-down for a while.
You may think, well, all the adult rides are 12 tickets, right? Nope! The Ferris Wheel is a big 15 tickets.
And the Himalaya is also 15 tickets, which I find interesting pricing because I'd rate the Ring of Fire a more intense and exciting ride than the Himalaya.
Can't tell you how many tickets the Starship 3000 (a Gravitron ride) was. But here's a photo along some midway.
And now into the horse barn. The entrants create their own heraldic symbols for their horses that are neat to see.
Trivia: English banks and private investors put something like £150 million in loans and £200 million in stock subscriptions to Latin American companies and projects in 1823 and 1824. Source: A Nation of Deadbeats: An Uncommon History of America's Financial Disasters, Scott Reynolds Nelson. The crash came in 1825.
Currently Reading: Michigan History, March/April 2025, Editor Sarah Hamilton. Also some tiny insight into why Kalamazoo used to be called the ``celery city''; apparently it's where the crop first got planted in the United States and pitched as a food rather than a medicinal plant.
Next thing in our adventures? Another night at Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. I took fewer pictures than I really should have so, sorry. But here's what I have.
Pinball Row. Note that the Venom game is updating, one of those little surprise things pinball games can do now, even if it's minutes before a tournament where this game is going to be played. Fun!
The other half of Pinball Row, going back to the Revenge From Mars that still had my pre-Covid grand champion score (and would through January, when this location closed).
And of course I put up a killer game of Attack From Mars, but not in tournament play. Just for fun. What's the fun in doing something really well just for your own gratification?
Some of the Chuck E Cheese bird animatronics.
Oh yeah, also had a killer game of Toy Story 4, again where it didn't do me any good but be fun and get me on top of the daily high score board. Also more games should turn on the daily high score board.
In the back, near the women's bathrooms, was this array of pictures of Riverview Park (I believe Chicago) along with many ride and redemption tickets for it.
Other stuff in back, including a bunch of posters for mutoscope movies, not all of them about mutoscope salesmen stealing away businessmen's wives.
Another typical view of Marvin's. A slightly dated promise of souvenirs, some old (reproduction?) freak show posters, a Mister Peanut that looks off-brand, some neon, and a black-and-white picture of some kind of store.
Further along that area there's a lighthouse, flags of the world, and a coin-op mechanical (nonfunctional, I think) of a woman in an electric chair.
And here's our old friend the Cardiff Giant!
Behind the counter you can see part of an old magazine or newspaper print ballyhooing the giant. It's weird that it's obscured by the ticket redemption station.
And then a sign for Marvin's advertising itself.
Trivia: In stowing gear for reentry the Gemini 4 astronauts put the used film cassettes in the middle food box. The cameras, some refuse (including three defecation bags), the exerciser, and some other small bits of gear were put in the left-hand aft food box. McDivitt kept the EVA suit sleeves, blanket, and launch day urine bags underneath his legs against his seat. Source: Gemini 4: An Astronaut Steps Into The Void, David J Shayler.
Currently Reading: Michigan History, March/April 2025, Editor Sarah Hamilton. With an article on the time Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy recorded a show in Decatur, where it turns out he came from.
Nobody Cares, by H. J. Breedlove. This one is good, but dark: it's dedicated this to Black Lives Matter, and fairly early on I got to the first mention of Missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. It's also book 3 in the Talkeetna series, with further developments in the friendship-turning-romance of Dace and Paul.
The Disappearing Spoon, by Dan Kean: a history of the periodic table, with a bit about each of the currently-known elements and the people, or groups of people who discovered them. Someone recommended this after I mentioned liking Consider the Fork, but the two books have almost nothing in common.
The Electricity of Every Living Thing, by Katherine May: a memoir, about walking and what happens after the writer hears a radio program about Asperger's and thinks "but that's me." (I don't remember where I saw this recommended
Return to Gone-Away, by Elizabeth Enright: read-aloud, and a reread of a book I read years ago. Sweet, a family's low-key adventures in an obscure corner of upstate New York. As the title implies, this is a sequel; read Gone-Away Lake first.
Beautiful Yetta, the Yiddish Chicken, by Daniel Pinkwater, a short picture book that we read aloud after Adrian and I realized Cattitude hadn't read it before. Conversation in three languages, with translations (and transliterations) for the Yiddish and Spanish. Not Pinkwater's best, but fun.
Thimble Summer, by Elizabeth Enright, because I enjoyed rereading the Gone-Away Lake books. Several months of a girl's life with her family on a farm. The plot and adventures are relatively low-key. I liked it, and am glad I got it from the library.
Also, it looks as though I didn't post about the summer reading thing here. It started June 1, and the bingo card has a mix of kinds of books, like books in translation, published this year, or with an indigenous author; some squares with things like "read outside" and "recommend a book"; and some that go further afield, like "learn a word in a new language" and "try a new recipe." Plus the ever-popular "book with a green cover." (OK, last year it was "book with a red cover.") I do a lot of my reading on a black-and-white kindle, so I don't know what color the covers might be. Therefore, I walked into a library yesterday, looked at their summer reading suggestions, and grabbed a book with a green cover.
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amaebi at 01:27pm on 2025-06-11 under activism, arguments, politics (us), popularity culture
sore
amused
cheerful![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
revlyncox_feed at 12:18pm on 2025-06-08
the OPPOSITE of nostalgic
blah
determined
