ceoln @ceoln@qoto.org

Music in 1928 is incredibly interesting. It's the earliest days of electrical recording (still per-magnetic recording, but some recordings from the late 20s are truly astounding), it's well in to the era of "modern" forms of music (that is to say Jazz, Blues, Country, etc. We don't get anything recognizable as rock and roll for a few more years, but you can see all the components.) In a world that made sense, we would own those recordings today.

But instead, on Jan 1 we get 1923 (last Jan we got no music, and the previous Jan we got 1922 and earlier.)

Judge reverses earlier decision and allows removal of #Confederate memorial at Arlington Cemetery

The allegations that the removal efforts amounted to grave desecration “were, at best, ill-informed and, at worst, inaccurate,” the judge wrote. #legal
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/judge-reverses-earlier-decision-allows-removal-confederate-memorial-ar-rcna130566

I cannot and will not accept the world we live in.
We are seeing a rise in COVID cases everywhere.

I leave the house and I am hit by stories of people losing friends to covid or its complications, who see my mask as an invitation to share it. Maskless people are sharing stories with me about death and disabilty.

People close to me are forced to participate in risky situations because the people in power in their institutions care more about their egoes than acting according to science, reason, empathy.
I can only look at this, and do what, write letters? Be nice to the random strangers talking about their trauma and tell them to mask and vaccinate? I know it is better than nothing, but this whole powerlessness is fucking overwhelming. This feels lonely and frustrating and anxious and it is being in a constant unresolved state of grief that cannot be resolved unless everyone starts to do fucking anything to stop this. Everyone. You. We.
We need to build a movement. We need to build radical communal care collectives. This is too much to bear alone.
You should build one.
You should mask. For yourself, for me, for others, for the children,for the elderly... We need to do something. Or this immense sea of suffering and death and disability will swallow us all and drown us in despair.

#WompWomp

Via Kyle Griffin:

A federal judge has ruled that Republican Rep. #ScottPerry must disclose 1,659 documents to government investigators in its #Jan6 probe — finding that the communication records were not protected by the speech or debate clause of the Constitution. #legal

Good morning. For me, any without a blood clot is a good one. What’s your current standard?

“#Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective

Wheels falling off cars at speed. Suspensions collapsing on brand-new vehicles. Axles breaking under acceleration. Tens of thousands of customers told Tesla about a host of part failures on low-mileage cars. The automaker sought to blame drivers for vehicle ‘abuse,’ but Tesla documents show it had tracked the chronic ‘flaws’ and ‘failures’ for years.”
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-musk-steering-suspension/

Hoping to find a few like-minded peeps. Here are a few things that keep me happy.

#Gardening
#Horticulture
#Homesteading
#SilkieChickens
#Birdwatching
#Dogs
#Baking
#Watercolor
#Art
#Nature
#Linguistics
#Antiques
#Laughter
#Kindness
#Equality

Good morning sweeties. Many thanks to my old friends for following me on this new page and to my new friends for taking the leap.
#Gardening #Anemone #Florespondence

Not sure this fits #birdsofmastodon, but on our shed, in suburban Melbourne, is this some kind of finch that’s built a nest for her loud babbies?

fever

mad scientist ethics board

halp

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As the Biden Admin prepares to potentially ban or restrict asylum, a reminder that asylum is legal immigration.

There's no "port of entry" requirement.
There's no "visa" requirement.
There's no "first country" requirement.
You enter the United States, and you apply for asylum.
Because asylum is legal immigration. Period.

Period.

I opposed Trump's asylum ban. And I will oppose a Biden asylum ban. Because my standard is justice, not political expediency. Asylum Is A Human Right. Period.

Absolutely astonished the Voyager 2 probe is still going.

Floored that people are still devoted enough to this 1970’s tech to still solve problems.

Unbelievable that the US is still willing to fund it, too.

I’m so proud of this little trooper.

https://techhub.social/@NSFVoyager2/111569742022983460

Thanks to Urban75 Mike for the share

Al Gore is a tad more blunt. From the dumpster fire formally known as Twitter:

"COP28 is now on the verge of complete failure. The world desperately needs to phase out fossil fuels as quickly as possible, but this obsequious draft reads as if OPEC dictated it word for word. It is even worse than many had feared. It is “Of the Petrostates, By the Petrostates and For the Petrostates.”"

Wael Arafat, 28, is currently unable to walk but remains conscious and talking.
The British-Palestinian has lost nearly 20kg since starting a #hungerstrike 50 days ago.

He is demanding the #UK government act to stop Israel's two-month-long bombardment of the #Gaza Strip. He stopped eating and drinking on 22 October, after learning that his sister and her four children had been killed by an Israeli air strike on their home in Gaza City.

Report MEE: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-hunger-strike-family-killed-gaza

It doesn't happen for every reader (of course not!) but sometimes you can use the rhythms of sentences to change the pattern of a reader's breathing. So the story worms all the way into a reader's body & invites a deep emotional response. I think it can help shift a reader from the space of knowing to that of feeling.

Very useful for sex scenes or moments of suspense!

What other times is this useful?
Do you think about rhythm this way when you write?

#WritingCommunity #WritingConversations