Gaythia Weis @Gaythia@qoto.org

Hammer & Hope is really producing some great content:

https://hammerandhope.org/article/florida-history-slavery-ron-desantis-woke

#quartz inclusions in garnets in metamorphic rocks record structural information that has been obliterated in the rest of the rock. The processes that create snowball #garnet are illuminated by the quartz inclusions! #MinCup23

This Daily Beast piece on DeSantis' security team tripping over themselves to keep a 15-year-old kid from asking difficult questions is pure gold. Getting big time Dead Zone vibes after reading this story, and this kid is my new hero.

His question should be the first that anyone asks every GOP candidate on the campaign trail for the next 14 months:

“Do you believe that Trump violated the peaceful transfer of power,” the teenager asked the governor, “a key principle of American democracy that we must uphold?”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-president-candidate-ron-desantis-is-afraid-of-questions-from-15-year-old-quinn-mitchell

You know those sliced agate geodes you sometimes see in stores and on display?

Did you know you can "read" them?

Look carefully at the levels, banding, crystal habit and orientation, and you can work out how it formed.

Here's a great guide on how to do that: http://www.quartzpage.de/agate.html

It's on the Quartz Page website. Everything fascinating to know about quartz. That's why I'm voting for #Quartz in #MinCup23.

A new exhibit at the Houston Holocaust Museum is taking a look at the travel guides that Black road-trippers used to help them navigate safe spaces in the Jim Crow South.

https://www.chron.com/culture/article/new-houston-holocaust-museum-exhibit-highlights-18343149.php

#news #texas #history #houston

Similarly, there was no talk of a “free speech crisis” as long as those in power got to define the boundaries of what was / wasn’t acceptable speech – before traditionally marginalized groups gained enough influence and the technological means to make their claims heard. 22/

Nostalgia is a common reaction to change. And weaponized nostalgia is a powerful tool of reactionary politics. Let’s not fall for it. Absolutely no need to mythologize past eras of stable white Christian patriarchal rule.
 
More here: https://thomaszimmer.substack.com/p/the-triumph-of-weaponized-nostalgia

“Currently about 2/3rds of all Dutch children walk or bike to school, with 75% of secondary school kids cycling to school. By enabling safe and active travel, Dutch cities prevent an estimated one million car journeys to school each morning.” — Chris and Melissa Bruntlett in #CurbingTraffic @modacitylife

When more rain means less water https://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2023/08/when-too-much-water-leads-to-water.html

Shortly ago Prof. John Perona got in touch to make us aware of his weekly newsletter "Earthward" and his website "From Knowledge to Power," new resources with some mission similarities to Skeptical Science but with strong identity of their own, and powerful content with a "public policy meets science" policy-centric approach.

Excited to learn about John’s website, we interviewed him to learn more of his history and how his site came to be.

#ClimateCommunications
https://skepticalscience.com/from-knowledge-to-power-an-interview-with-john-perona.html?utm-source=mastodon&utm-campaign=socialnetworks&utm-term=sks

Every month I round up the links, books, and media I found interesting. Here's my list for this month. Let me know what I missed! https://werd.io/2023/the-notable-list-september-2023

Thanks to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling this May, the EPA was forced to remove protections from most of America's wetlands this week.

Harlan Crow's firm lobbied for the rollback while he secretly plied Justice Thomas with gifts.

Anyone see a problem here?

As our kids go #BackToSchool, never forget that we ARE the traffic that we’re using as an excuse. If more walked, biked or rode transit to school, it would erase a massive number of car trips each day, and our kids would be safer, healthier and better at school.

Spread the word.

Meanwhile in #Texas we're barely holding onto sanity in government. Glimmer of hope: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/30/texas-death-star-bill-unconstitutional/

From the #Austin Chronicle:
Right-Wing Extremists Harass McCallum High Students at School: They told kids they’re going to hell
https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2023-08-24/right-wing-extremists-harass-mccallum-high-students-at-school/

#news #politics #USpol #Texas #extremism #fascism #transphobia #schools