Phillip Winn @pwinn@qoto.org
- Pronouns
- he/him
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- like "Quinn"
Love conquers fear
#nerdery #books #puzzles #ttrpg #anime #Christian #feminist #antiracist #photography #sudoku #golang #python #OpenWeb #AIart #GenshinImpact #tfr
Joined Nov 2022
In 1923, the New York Times Magazine published an article about one exception to the then-current prohibition against alcohol sales: foreign embassies.
Charge of the Little Embassies at Washington
https://sundaymagazine.org/2023/02/05/charge-of-the-little-embassies-at-washington/
Of course, the location of most of these foreign embassies (Washington D.C.) means that the politicians responsible for prohibition were not themselves without access to alcohol. Some things don't seem to change.
If you have only a few minutes each day, read whatever @mekkaokereke has posted for the day. But if you have more time, much more time, perhaps you'll enjoy some:
Black History Audiobooks
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnkWWmhVvhc2lMwK45HZigQrS8ngxOI9L
The 21 videos in this playlist include some very short speeches by Lincoln and Wilberforce, but also some multi-hour audiobooks.
After reading Mekka all this month, I find myself wondering about the selection of authors and subjects. A "Black History Audiobooks" playlist that includes multiple speeches by Abraham Lincoln and one by William Wilberforce? Whether you accept the description of Lincoln as a white supremacist or not, it's a little weird to have three out of 21 videos be speeches by white people, right? And then the story of young (white) Abraham Lincoln? I could go on, but there are some good books on the list, so I'll stop. It's not my place.
Enjoy writings from Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass, and books about the Underground Railroad, the American Revolution, and exploration of the North Pole.
On this Tuesday in Black History Month, I present Black History for White People:
There are 63 episodes, plus some additional related videos:
https://www.youtube.com/@blackhistoryforwhitepeople/videos
It is my general working theory that most of us wypipo are essentially ignorant about either huge categories of events and people in American history, or missing a huge amount of important details about events and people we think we know about from American history, or both. This series of videos aims to assume nothing, and fill in the gaps.
Honestly, it can be embarrassing sometimes to realize just how ignorant the listener stand-in character can be, but that's how we learn: put away the pride, listen by yourself if it helps, and take in the new information. And fellow wypipo, if you find that you know almost everything you hear in these videos, that's good, but it's not as if it's a huge measure of success to be proud of. It's more like you're no longer asleep (but "woke" has been turned into something like a slur), or you've opened your eyes. A good thing, but not something to brag about, in my opinion.
This is a hard thread for me, and I suspect a hard one for most wypipo like me.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109812905776999409
I have long considered myself someone who resists hero worship, but I also know I have a hard time letting go of positive images formed when I was young.
I don't want to let perfection stand in the way of progress, so I think it's worthwhile to celebrate the progress made by Lincoln while also being honest about his failures. Even in the whitewashed history I was taught, he bent over backwards to accommodate the enslaving southern states, and all for naught. It didn't help, and you'd think the suffering of so many people would have made it clear it never could.
But maybe that's still me, not wanting to go as far as I should in my criticism. I honestly don't know.
I appreciate the effort @mekkaokereke is going to attempting to educate people like me.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
Happy #BlackHistoryMonth ! Still not talking about Black history. Still talking about white US history. Q: Why do so many Black folk call Abraham ...
Is it crazy how saying sentences backwards creates backwards sentences saying how crazy it is?
For this Monday during Black History Month, I'll provide more than one video link, but we'll start with:
Moments in Black History, from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD-Nec7Yi1GjS8TEM7kWOxEbk00Z1QYR7
These are 53 very short videos, or rather 52 very short videos with a single two-hour "A Day of Impact" presentation about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr which has more than a few moments of cringe for anybody not a an alumnus of that school.
The 52 short videos cover many common well-known events and people, as well as some I didn't know about, so my fellow wypipo might learn something new, like I have.
These aren't well-polished presentation. To be honest, most sound like school reports. But since most of us didn't learn most of this in school, that seems apt. It won't take long to catch up on a series of Black luminaries such as "Stagecoach Mary" and more recently, Smokie Norful.
For something Much More Modern, there's MKBHD, the YouTube channel of Marques Brownlee, who mostly reviews tech.
https://www.youtube.com/@mkbhd
He has been my go-to guy for a couple of years now, and I bought a car less than two months ago based entirely on his video reviewing it. I mean, I also test drove it, but that's the level of trust I have in Mr. Brownlee.
The unrelenting pervasive nature of white history as the default leads to most people forming unconscious ideas about roles we can each play. It is incredibly and sadly common for people to believe that white European society is the pinnacle of civilization, as evidenced by... [waves all around] Never mind that Steve Jobs' father was Syrian, clearly white people invented technology, right? Never mind that mathematics was developed far from western lands, to the point that we now study algebra, or الجبر al-jabr, developed while Europe was mired in tribal warfare.
It's a vicious cycle: if you believe that everything you see was invented by white people, then you believe that white people invented everything, because each set of false information reinforces the other.
Wypipo, open your eyes! Here's a popular meme image of just a few things invented by Black people, and the full list is so much longer. This list is so long mastodon won't let me put the entire text description in the alt tag, so I'll add it as a reply to this post.
Mekka is schooling us daily, and today's thread answers "Why do Black people see racism in everything?"
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109801619225078087
Any of of the posts in this thread could be a book or two, and many of them are.
@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
Happy #BlackHistoryMonth ! I'm still not ready to talk about Black history. I still want to talk about white US history. Q: Why do Black people se...
It's the First Friday of February, a Fantastic time For Following Fine Folks. The mastodon experience is better when you Follow more people, and these are some people who are worth Following:
@nataliedavisgdread@newsie.social Natalie Davis
@kyra_davis Kyra Davis
@dtgeek Anthony Dean
@funcrunch Pax Ahimsa Gethen
@midnightcommander@linuxrocks.online midnightcommander
I've interacted with Natalie Davis for many years on several different platforms, so I can promise you: she's the real deal!
Happy Black Friday!
I try to spend some time every Friday boosting posts of music videos by Black artists. I'm not Black myself, so I'm taking a chance today by posting my own. I hope it's okay to participate in the hashtag!
Summertime, by Lena Horne
https://youtu.be/EIHPHMUZoq0
Lena Horne was an amazing woman. Not just a singer, she was a very popular actress who wouldn't take roles she thought typecast her. She was a civil rights activist, and participated in protests and marches. She also sued clubs that wouldn't let her perform, and ended up blacklisted during the McCarthyism of the 1940s because of her leftist progressive views.
This song makes me wistful for relief from the ice currently blanketing my city. This video is from:
Black History Music Playlist
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMGH4dosQ9fyz1ZUuPEW9qsRNgdlHMH0T
The playlist starts with 85 great videos in alphabetical order by first name, adds 9 more videos in no particular order, and ends on a 15-minute tech product review for reasons unclear to me.
More on Lena Horne: https://www.biography.com/musicians/lena-horne
#BlackFriday #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackLivesMatter #MusicVideos #blog
In light of a deeply-disturbing ruling from the U.S. 5th Circuit court today, a reminder that even before the United States Supreme Court decided D.C. v. Heller in 2008, inventing an individual "right" to own guns separate from any considerations of militias, and long before they decided the Bruen case last year apparently made it impossible to apply any considerations that have surfaced since 1788, the second amendment itself is rooted in this country's original sin of enslavement.
The Second Amendment Was Ratified to Preserve Slavery
https://truthout.org/articles/the-second-amendment-was-ratified-to-preserve-slavery/
Today we sacrifice our children's lives at the altar of the NRA, and it's all a bitter fruit of sacrificing the lives of those whom we consider "Black" during enslavement.
#BlackLivesMatter #BlackHistoryMonth #blog #politics #guns #DomesticViolence
My life online during the month of February is mostly shutting up about the things I normally natter on about, and promoting and highlighting others on the subject of Black history in honor of Black History Month. Such as:
Unsung Black Heroes, from Quentin R. Jiles
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuX_udIp4IoHR1MtRLpumkvED8wqHPxtO
Quentin is the host of The Queue with Que. Two years ago he ran a series on "Unsung Black Heroes," talking about people like Ta-Nehisi Coates and Marilyn Nance and Dorothy Height. As a white person, I found myself nodding enthusiastically when I saw Coates or James Baldwin, and wondering "who?" at some of the other figures he covered. I hope you're better-educated about Black history than I am, but if not, or if you want a reminder, this series is for you.
There are 22 episodes, which are generally under ten minutes, although Fannie Lou Hamer just can't be contained in only ten minutes. 😀
Also, @mekkaokereke has been on fire talking about generational wealth today. I know I included him as someone to follow yesterday, but if a list of ten was too much for you, at least follow Mekka.
Then go back and follow the other nine, too. I'll have more suggestions tomorrow.
We can thank Carter G. Woodson, often described as the "father of Black history," for Black History Month. He started a week-long event in February 1926 which later turned into the month-long event we have today.
This video about Carter G. Woodson by One Mic History is less than 19 minutes, and worth watching: https://youtu.be/yDsgf3u3rEo
In fact, this entire 81-video playlist is good.
Black History, by One Mic History
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFAhUaY7D-Ea0hIjboE90EWZIFb-vtgiD
I'll be watching these myself this month, and I've got many more video playlists queued up!
I don't mean it go off on a rant here, but, my fellow Americans, we live in a country in which a six-year-old boy deliberately shot his first grade teacher with his mother's gun twenty-five days ago, and the national reckoning, the deep soul-searching and re-evaluation of every law and every cultural norm that has followed is... nonexistent. God bless America.
The school system's superintendent was removed, and the principal was reassigned, while the assistant principal resigned. The kids at this elementary school now have to walk through metal detectors and use clear plastic backpacks under the watchful eye of two cops. Which did no good at all less than a year ago in Uvalde, Texas. God bless America.
And that's it! Nobody has even bothered making a serious plea to change anything at all, because we know nothing will change. Virginia won't change anything any more than Texas did after the Uvalde shooting. We just know that this is now a part of life: sometimes people go to school to get shot. Sometimes it's children being shot. Sometimes it's children doing the shooting. Sometimes it's both. God bless America.
You might say it's been overshadowed in the news by the cops who murdered yet another Black man, a situation in which the Black cops were fired and charged with murder, while the white cops were put on administrative leave. But that murder didn't even happen until the next day, and didn't become public knowledge until three weeks after Virginia shooting. God bless America.
You might say it's been overshadowed in the news by January 6 being the anniversary of an attempted insurrection, for which the prime suspect remains at large. God bless America.
But if that's true, what does it say about this country that a six-year-old shooting his teacher takes third place at most to still more murderous cops and a scofflaw ex-president getting away with inciting rebellion?
God bless America.
Oh, consequences of my own inaction, why are you inevitably here at my doorstep, costing my $9.2 million each day?
I mean, not *my* inaction, but *someone's* inaction. And since it's not *my* inaction, it's fun to watch.
Recent movies I've seen, in reverse order:
_RRR_ is over the top in the best possible way. There were certainly things going on in terms of Indian culture and politics that I didn't understand, but that didn't affect my enjoyment at all. It's a fantastic movie about brotherhood and friendship and how incredibly evil British colonialists were. I loved it!
_Men_ is... strange. Moody, creepy, and then confusing, I'm not sure anyone quite knows exactly what the Cronenbergesque ending is supposed to mean, including writer and director Alex Garland. Still, it's clear in broad strokes, and I don't consider my time wasted.
_Glass Onion_ is great, a worthy successor to _Knives Out_, which remains great. I loved the cameos, spotted the editing trick, and still was surprised by the full reveal. Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig need to keep making these!
_Avatar: The Way of Water_ doesn't need me to say anything, and I think James Cameron literally reads about his story problems as a fetish. Still, I really, really disliked the first Avatar movie, and this one... wasn't bad! It could have been a shorter movie, but I'll admit the visuals balanced out the pacing issues. And sure, our characters end the movie in the same situation they were in about five minutes in, so you might wonder what the three hours were for, but: water! I'm guessing the next movie is when the fire nation attacks.
"But mercy has never arisen from an ideal situation – it grows as a garden at the end of this long maze of non-ideals."
https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/strange-mercies
I have finally found a sauce I prefer to the traditional Huy Fong "Cock Sauce" Sriracha. Diamondback Texafied Sriracha is better. It's just better.
Huy Fong is still excellent for when I'm out and about at restaurants, and I've still got a big bottle in my fridge, plus those packets, but more and more I'm reaching for the Diamondback.
That's one good thing about H-E-B opening stores in the Dallas area. I would never have learned about Diamondback otherwise.
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/diamondback-sriracha-hot-chile-sauce/1978313
When the CEO of IAB describes his worst fear, and it sounds wonderful to you, I guess that makes you an "extremist."
Join me, fellow "extremists," as we insist on basic privacy and "cripple the advertising industry and eliminate it" in the process!
Reading the full script, I note that he calls out Apple as an "enemy from within," so welcome to the party, Apple. Let's take them down!
So the CEO of online ads giant IAB made a pretty… remarkable speech, saying: "These extremists (referring to privacy advocates) are political oppor...
- Pronouns
- he/him
- Pronounce
- like "Quinn"
Love conquers fear
#nerdery #books #puzzles #ttrpg #anime #Christian #feminist #antiracist #photography #sudoku #golang #python #OpenWeb #AIart #GenshinImpact #tfr
Joined Nov 2022
