Category: Friday Unrelated Information

1. I didn’t realize Joann had been the victim of private equity. Once again, private equity ruins everything.

 

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2. A really useful way of looking at things: The Argument Ladder

“… a system I came up with to keep myself from being overwhelmed or underwater when I try and maintain my footing in discussions or arguments. […] it helps me understand why steps that feel like progress in terminology, visibility, or behavior to the left can be so easily labeled and summarily discarded (as “cancel culture”, “woke”, “politically correct”, and so on) by the right.”

3. Truly amazing: Vintage calling cards of Chicago gangs.

1. There will be a “planet parade” at sundown tonight, with Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and possibly Saturn visible to the naked eye. (Uranus and Neptune will be there too but need a telescope.)

2. Words for our times:

3. Speaking of words, I learned what a thyrsus is recently.

4. Something to remember, by Dakota Cates:

1. Wednesday of this week marked the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which put 125,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps. The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but America sure derails it a lot.

2. Things are bad (again) but we can laugh at them, I guess: Thanks to Our New Efficiency Czar, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Is Saving More Money Than Ever

3. In better news, I just learned about Medjed, a fairly mysterious Egyptian deity and all-around weird little guy:

1. Ezra Klein has a pep talk about the first few weeks of this “being in a clown car going 250 mph off a cliff” presidency:

1. Well here’s an argument for not posting through it: You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism. This is a great point!

“More recently, researchers have found that the viral outrage disseminated on social media in response to these ridiculous claims actually reduces the effectiveness of collective action. The result is a media environment that keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them.”

2. We can still knit through fascism, though.

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A post shared by chessie ✨ (@salty___stitches)

3. “February is the worst month of the year. But it’s an honest month.” But remember, “If you can live through February, you’ll live another year.” (Remember this guy?)

1. Somehow it’s STILL January but tomorrow is February and Imbolc, the cross-quarter day between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. We’re halfway; we can do it!

2. Yes I want January to be over but this also has merit:

3. The Public Domain Review has a new visual search engine that’s super fun to browse. I recommend “Infinite View.”

4. I also recommend looking at a baby capybara (and not the news).

1. If you looked at the devil’s butthole’s executive orders this week like me (oops), you’ll know that our trans friends are already under attack. (And trans people already have a staggering 82% suicide risk.) What can you do right now? Order Girl Scout cookies from a trans or non-binary Girl Scout. There’s a list compiled right here and they ship.

2. Maybe we can go to France and camp out in the cheese room of this restaurant? The Hottest Restaurant in France Is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet (includes some extremely New Yorker lines such as “The effect is something like a Golden Corral by Auguste Escoffier”).

3. Something cool: Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt. The urban waterways in the Great Lakes area fascinate me. Imagine having a neighborhood lake!

1. The 48-hour trip that I spent a month sewing things for is coming up this weekend! It’s SUCH a middle-aged lady niche interest trip, too: We’re going to the scent museum and the pinball museum and, of course, Stonemountain Fabrics.

2. Would you like to see lettering from classic jazz albums? How about albums designed by Milton Glaser?

3. America may not make it but hell yeah, imposter syndrome is out! (Also I’m glad to know it’s not just me worrying about getting fired all the time.)

 

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1. This really nails the January vibe:

 

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A post shared by Farrel Hegarty 🏳️‍🌈 (@farrelhegarty)

2. This was a lovely little comic: Things to Say to the Person You Are at Night in the Winter.

3. I had no idea: The Strange Reason Nearly Every Film Ends by Saying It’s Fiction (You Guessed It: Rasputin!)

1. I’m taking a break next week to not post, drink too much coffee, and enjoy Dead Week:

2. I’m prepping for Christmas dinner:

3. I’m bracing for January, with advice from Mike Monteiro:

Hope and optimism will come from helping those that need it. Hope and optimism will come from seeing that our actions, both big and small, can help others. Buy someone a fucking sandwich. Help someone pay their rent. Drive someone to the grocery store. And yes, put your body between their and those that would hurt them. Let people know you are here should they need you.

Help is not coming. You’re already here. I hope you’re ready. I’m optimistic you are.

4. And I’m celebrating the Solstice tomorrow! We made it; the sun is coming back. Thank you, sun.