Da protest march

Jun. 15th, 2025 09:17 am
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[personal profile] hudebnik
The Manhattan protest march was scheduled to start at 2 PM in front of the Central Library (the one with the lions), go down 5th Avenue, and end at Madison Square. It rained all morning, forecast to taper off in the course of the afternoon, so around 1:00 I put a transparent recycling bag over my protest sign, walked to the train station, took a train to Grand Central (a conductor said "I love your sign" as I boarded), and walked a block to the library, where things appeared to be more crowded than at the last two protest marches. (I use the first-person singular because [personal profile] shalmestere was in Boston, winding up a week at the Early Music Festival.)

Oh, about the sign. In honor of Flag Day, one side had a US flag, followed by the words "with liberty and justice for ALL!", the last two words underlined. The other side said "1775-2025: 250 years and we still don't bow to KINGS".

Chatted with various other protesters around 42nd Street, as the crowd surged forward a foot or two, then stayed in place for ten minutes, repeat. About 3:10 I got to 41st Street, but after that things moved more smoothly, and it wasn't quite 4:00 when I got to 34th Street and peeled off for Penn Station because my lower back was hurting.

The next train to my station was in 45 minutes, but I figured I could happily spend that time sitting in a chair with a back. A couple of white twentysomethings asked to see what my signs said, and seemed quite puzzled that I opposed anything the Trump administration had been doing. We discussed the DOGE dismantling of numerous government agencies, and I suggested that if you actually wanted to reduce waste, fraud, and inefficiency in government, you would start by understanding what the agencies are supposed to do, then identifying particular programs that are working well and others that aren't achieving their goals, then analyzing them to decide whether the unsuccessful programs could be made successful or should be abandoned; you don't start by firing (illegally) all the inspectors general whose job is to reduce waste, fraud, and inefficiency in government, then firing tens of thousands of mostly-competent workers regardless of whether they're doing a good job. Doing things the right way takes months, and Musk didn't have that much time: he wanted to destroy agencies in a hurry before the courts could stop him. The guy I was talking to acknowledged that there might be more effective ways than Musk's to improve government, "but Musk is gone now. You've been talking for ten minutes, and you're clearly very passionate about what Musk did, but you haven't mentioned Trump once.' [I had, in connection with Musk having no actual governmental authority, but not much.] "So what has Trump himself done that makes you think he's a king?"

So I took a deep breath, thinking "where do I even start?", and didn't do a great job of this part, before a middle-aged black guy walked up and told the kid I was talking to that he was full of shit. The kid stood up, they started shouting in one another's faces, and almost came to blows before the black guy's female companion persuaded him to walk away. One of the twentysomethings reported the episode to a cop, then came over and shook my hand before they all went to catch their train.

At which point I looked at my phone to check on my departure time, realized that I'd been looking at the schedule of trains in the opposite direction, and that I had just missed my actual train; the next one was in another 50 minutes, so I took the subway home instead.

Meanwhile, [personal profile] shalmestere had just boarded a train home from Boston. I got home, took an ibuprofen, lay down for a while, applied a heating pad to my back, walked and fed the dogs, ate a little (I wasn't very hungry), then went back to Penn Station to meet her and accompany her home. After which it became a relatively normal evening.

Grandiloquent Word of the Day

Jun. 14th, 2025 07:42 pm
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[personal profile] cvirtue

Grandiloquent Word of the Day https://www.facebook.com/GrandiloquentWords?__cft__[0]=AZX8S0GF5tayhhpeRWWSuLF7hVq0Wk-WITHY8Iyg89rX8WAm-oh5ggjZepfbEIUR2wo5XxiSANwKd1Nw1rwrb4OaMzpHUzZ_mIE3l9EUfJbWwNTq5UVV7nZ1exZNfHZnbSw-xrm09aTyZnP1xkoB71ibUcls2tgirB-gGjR5LnlIkcer6Pq51IZuw4vB_hqPL--wah1OsskhodJQyizlDPPq0Q-3SSsN6B-m5x0ehbR0soDAAZZcBp9izKWHOMrIRrk&__tn__=-UC*F (On BlueSky, FB, and other platforms) Zabernism [ZAB-ur-niz-im] (n.) - Unjustified or unwarranted use of military authority; military jackbootery; abusive bullying.

From the German name for Saverne, a town in Alsace. Originated from an incident in 1912 involving an overzealous soldier who killed a cobbler for smiling at him.

Used in a sentence: “The fascist leader’s deployment of soldiers against the very citizens it was meant to protect will always be remembered as vainglorious zabernism.”

[image: image.png]

The 3.5% figure isn't automatic

Jun. 14th, 2025 03:34 pm
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue
All of that 3.5% have to keep active/mobilize/write/phone etc.

"The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
BBC, 2019

Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts – and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.

In 1986, millions of Filipinos took to the streets of Manila in peaceful protest and prayer in the People Power movement. The Marcos regime folded on the fourth day.

In 2003, the people of Georgia ousted Eduard Shevardnadze through the bloodless Rose Revolution, in which protestors stormed the parliament building holding the flowers in their hands. While in 2019, the presidents of Sudan and Algeria both announced they would step aside after decades in office, thanks to peaceful campaigns of resistance.

In each case, civil resistance by ordinary members of the public trumped the political elite to achieve radical change.

There are, of course, many ethical reasons to use nonviolent strategies. But compelling research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, confirms that civil disobedience is not only the moral choice; it is also the most powerful way of shaping world politics – by a long way. Read more... )

No Kings protest in my small town

Jun. 14th, 2025 01:10 pm
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

The word from organizers seems to be that we had 350 people in a town of 10,000. Photo of my sign and "No Kings" royalty outfit. [image: image.png]

cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue
... assuming you are not pleased with what Mr. Trump has been doing.

If you want to attend No Kings, but are concerned about violence at protests:
1: even in LA, the police say that the violence is
A: from known yahoos that show up all the time, not sincere protestors and
B: primarily happens at night
2: is less likely at smaller gatherings.

Look here for your local gathering: https://www.nokings.org/#map

People who voted for him:
He promised one thing and is doing another, such as promising to remove criminal immigrants, but instead is having his people arrest law-abiding immigrants following the proper procedures at courts and hearings. He's letting the criminals and gang members just do their thing. That's nobody's idea of justice.

People who didn't vote for him:
This is not the post to argue about people who voted for him and regret it.
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

Dear Title and Name,

I'm sure you are doing what you can about ICE's actions. But that will take a while. Can you also push for them to act like professionals and wear uniforms, ID, and no masks?

There's no way for their detainees to know this isn't some kind of private lawlessness. There have already been news reports of generic criminals saying they are ICE, in order to tie people up and rob their businesses.

Several different things

Jun. 11th, 2025 04:19 pm
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[personal profile] fabrisse
1. I am so sorry to hear about Brian Wilson's death. I found out about the Beach Boys at summer camp in the 1970s. [You can do the Virginia Reel to Help Me Rhonda.]

2. I am planning to go to my local "No Kings" protest on Saturday. I'm a little peeved that they scheduled it for the heat of the day. SPF 70, a hat, and a soaker scarf are my friends.

3. I went to Richmond, VA with my sister on Thursday. I flew back on Saturday, and she'll drive back today.

The Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was pretty good. She'll never be my favorite artist, but having a context to frame her work is very helpful.

I had forgotten what a good small city museum the VMFA is. It has a very famous Mary Cassatt, a collection of Faberge objects which includes several Imperial Easter eggs and silver service as well as jewelry, Egyptian Rooms and a nice (small) sample of Roman Art. I fell in love with a Childe Hassam painting that's unlike most of his work.

Sis and her friend, who she visits yearly, agreed to go out to Perley's for Jewish Deli food. The matzoh ball soup was some of the best I've ever tasted and the potato latkes had an apricot/apple sauce that tasted great with them, plus some scallion sour cream. They also have house made syrups for sodas, and I can attest that the apricot wasn't too sweet and was very refreshing.

Flying home was a bit of an ordeal. My plane took off on time, 4:15 pm and was supposed to land in Atlanta 1.5 hours later. The pilot attempted to land when cleared, but the turbulence was so bad that he had to pull up. I held the hand of the woman next to me to help calm her down. I've been on roller coasters with less dropping.

We went to Augusta to refuel which took two hours because there were other planes ahead of us. Just as we were about to take off, the storm which had inundated Atlanta hit Augusta. It was another hour before it subsided. By the time we landed in Atlanta most of the food court had shut down for the night, so I was very hungry.

Fortunately, my plane to Savannah had been delayed. It was supposed to take off at 8:18. We were finally allowed to board at 11:20.

In Savannah, I had to try 4 taxi companies before I found one who had a driver willing to pick-up at the airport. I got home at 2 a.m. Not my best flight ever.

negative for covid

Jun. 10th, 2025 04:29 pm
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[personal profile] matildalucet
It took a while, but I got a negative test today, so I'm going to Quintavia dance to play with the Waytes tonight. I feel better about my plans to BEMF tomorrow, too. I have to remember my stamina is not what it was three weeks ago and pace myself.

Goliath usually wins

Jun. 9th, 2025 11:20 am
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[personal profile] cellio

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.

still covid, improving

Jun. 8th, 2025 11:01 pm
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[personal profile] matildalucet
I felt well enough to mask up and drive stuff over to the Melrose Free Swap event yesterday. I tested again in the afternoon and there is still a positive line, though fainter than the original test. Symptoms are also much improved so I'm happy with the trend. I'm probably not going to try to get to a BEMF concert Monday evening. I'm slated to play with the Waytes in Quintavia Tuesday evening, and I know some of the folks out there are pretty covid-conscious so I'll test again Tuesday before making a final call on that, and mask anyway.

I'm not exactly clear on which was Day 0 for the infection since I had symptoms for at least a day before I thought to test, and it could have been the day before that, even. Wednesday is at least Day 11, maybe more, so unless I'm more tired than I have been, I'll go BEMFing a little then.

Garden today

Jun. 7th, 2025 09:43 pm
cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

Rainy day here, but I did a bunch of seedling planting before it got too wet, then did a lot of training/tying branches for roses, wisteria, forsythia (ie, forCynthia) and grapes.

Should enlarge a LOT, if you want to see the panels better; 2048 px sq. 20 plants blooming (or fruiting) in the garden today, in the rain.

Of particular note:

Top two pics are blackcurrants and gooseberries. Yellow rose on right will go on arch over the chain link fence gate -- only another foot to go to reach the top of the 6' fence. Standard rose (rose on a stick, for you non-gardeners) on the bottom row is a wild sprout from a rosebush at the previous house, which I cut off and rooted. It's almost 3' tall.

Lower L corner is malva sylvestris -- ongoing flowers all summer, easy and dramatic. The tree behind the fish is a peach.

I generally don't photograph plants I've bought this year; I don't feel like they are truly "mine" until I've managed to not kill them for a year. Seedlings I started from seed, are entirely mine; the baby lupines on the left edge, for example.

[image: image.png]

cvirtue: CV in front of museum (Default)
[personal profile] cvirtue

O great.
Report covers Texas and California, but I would expect a wide band of warmer-weather states are also affected.

the Resurgence of Flea-Borne Typhus in Texas in the 21st Century: Part 1: The Bacteria, the Cat Flea, Urbanization, and Climate Change

The report doesn't seem to break out the three types of typhus.

"about one quarter of patients suffer respiratory, neurologic, renal, hepatic, cardiac, ocular, or other complications"

"transmission is closely associated with human behavior, domestic pets, stray/feral dogs and cats, and urban wildlife"

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/14/2/154

Typhus info: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/typhus

Chart from report: [image: image.png]

RIP Peter David

Jun. 3rd, 2025 10:09 pm
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[personal profile] jducoeur

I just found out that Peter David, one of the legendary writers of the comic book field (and novels, and TV, and other stuff, but I knew him first and foremost from comics) passed away last week.

For posterity, here's my comment on the locked post where I found out about it. (The Kickstarter "blog" for The Babylon 5 Preservation Project, which ran a long obit.) Also includes a few extra footnotes in italics.


Damn -- I had missed that Peter had passed. Not a surprise under the circumstances [he's been quite sick for quite a while], but he'll be much missed. He was one of my favorite writers for most of my adult life.

I was at that "Three High-Verbals" talk at MIT [in Kresge, October 6, 2001], which was the second time I got to meet him. (The first having been after Universicon at Brandeis University, many years before. We wound up commandeering my living room for the after-party, resulting in Peter sitting in my easy chair for hours, telling stories to about two dozen college students sitting around him on the floor.)

Anyway, that was one heck of a memorable talk. Peter read his beautiful, sober But I Digress column about 9/11. Neil read "My Crazy Hair" (demonstrating that yes, Neil could read the phone book and people would happily listen). And Harlan picked a fight with the audience about how the Internet was destroying society, and proceeded to argue with them for half an hour. It seemed very true to each.

Once it was all over, we got to the signings, and I came up to Peter with a Trek fanzine that my wife had picked up at a NY convention in the mid-70s. [This was Jane's first-ever SF convention -- she wheedled her father into taking her into NYC for a Trek con when she was a teenager. I don't remember exactly how old she was at the time, but I vaguely remember it being '74.] Peter's eyes practically bugged out, and he yelled for Caroline [his wife] to come look. Turned out that his piece in there was the first thing he'd ever had published anywhere, and he hadn't seen a copy of it in decades.

That signed zine is buried somewhere in my stacks; I've been looking for it since his heart attack. I still rather regret not having just given it to him at the time...

Oops, covid

Jun. 1st, 2025 01:56 pm
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[personal profile] matildalucet
I got a covid jab on Thursday to prepare for summer minglings. I spent Friday on the couch reading, feeling mostly okay, but taking it easy anyway. Nasal congestion (which is normal for me if there is any pollen anywhere) picked up enough to take daytime meds (unusual for me). I figured I had a cold. After today's house calendar sync meeting, I thought to test for covid just to feel better that that was not what I was dealing with.

Decidedly positive, for the first time ever. I'm nowhere near as sick as my husband was when he got it in 2023. Other than the stuffiness and coughing when PND sets in, my main symptom is feeling warm (but not feverish).

Guess I won't buy BEMF concert tickets yet. And I'm back on Team Mask for the time being.
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