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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: August 9th, 2023

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  • For years, I worked in a large building that required all employees and visitors to back in for a few safety reasons, with approximately 600 spaces and an almost full lot most weekdays. It was stated in our safety training that it was easier to see other people and vehicles when exiting facing forward and faster evacuation in times of extreme emergency. It had the benefit that it did seem to quicken flow of traffic when everyone left around the same time at the end of the day.

    If a parking spot is straight, I tend to back in for those reasons, but if it is an angled spot, it typically denotes a singular directional flow, and it makes more sense to pull in and back out.






  • I certainly don’t advocate people driving under the influence of any mind altering substances, and I believe if someone is found impaired at the time of an accident, the law should account for that.

    However, and this is anecdotal, I grew up in a house where I knew from a very young age that my parents were smokers. There were far fewer days that my parents were not high. They performed all necessary driving without issues. They maintained focus and followed all (other) driving law and never got into accidents. I don’t partake at all now, but when I did, I drove regularly and never felt unsafe. There were instances where quick reaction time was necessary (swerving to miss an unexpected obstacle on a dark windy road in the rain, accidents involving other vehicles in front of me, etc.) and my conscious effort to focus on the task was way more important than whether or not I was high.

    Now I ride a motorcycle and am much more aware of what is going on with drivers around me. The amount of people I see in their cars on their cell phones or busy talking to their friends or just generally not paying attention, I want to say that is the bigger issue. Alcohol disables your ability to choose that focus, and at least for me or the people I’ve been in a car with, cannabis does not. I’ve ridden in cars with friends that touch their phones while behind the wheel and it has always made me feel much less safe.

    But this is just my experience, and I wanted to share. You aren’t wrong and I know it makes more sense advocating driving without influence, but to say it is just as dangerous as alcohol seems a stretch in my eyes.







  • Organize/join an org. Talk to your neighbors/family/friends/coworkers. It’s slow going at first. You may not see results for years, but building a community that resists takes effort. I see people doubt the efficacy of protest/organizing all the time, or they are discouraged by lack of numbers in the streets because it doesn’t happen overnight or because there isn’t absolute 100% alignment with what they think should be done, but we need to remember that these things are built over time and more important than complete alignment on prescription is agreeing that the direction we’re going is wrong. The best time was yesterday, the second best time is now. There are people across the US in all states organizing to resist. I’m in a very red state and each subsequent meeting we have nearly doubles in number of people.


  • I work a blue collar job deep in a very red state. The guys at work have really enjoyed the last few weeks over the news they’ve been seeing across their Facebook feeds and other preferred outlets. The elation from them is immeasurable. But some of them have relatives or even a wife who work for the federal government. They were discussing how their loved ones are afraid of losing their jobs, and so I take any opportunity I can to have any conversation with them about class politics and shoehorn in any broad analysis of the political landscape of the US. Not specific to the current circumstances, we’ve been having these conversations for years now. They often walk away saying how I’ve provided a new perspective, and that they weren’t aware of something I said and it gave them something to think about, only to turn around the next day as if they hadn’t heard a single word from me.

    In these conversations, I’ve found out that of their own admission, some of them have never read a single book in their lives. That they have a difficult time understanding basic principles of science.

    I have always tried my best to see the positives in people. To believe that if someone didn’t have knowledge in one area, they may be vastly ahead in another. Like the “hillbillies” who know nothing of the outside world, but understand mechanical systems well enough to keep an engine running with a paperclip and chewed gum.

    But that’s what they know. They are not adept at piecing together even the most modest of intertwining political occurrences. What they know in their holler is their neighbor and their cousin. Their adherence to supporting the termination of democracy for the sake of oligarchy is a cultural wave bolstered by the algorithms that feed their scrolling habits. They hang onto anything that carries their ignorances. Many have never left the area and met anyone unlike them.

    You’re right that it is maddening, to know that history is happening in front of our eyes. The analogous atrocities we show as examples burning holes in our conscious while we’re diving in all over again, with some people choosing obliviousness and even celebrating for their biases and propagandizing.

    I believe that even among the aware, there are those who choose not to believe the worst could happen. They see these events and choose to internalize the roundabout language in the corporate news headlines or from any more relevant politician. It is, after all, a tough pill to swallow. So they too allow themselves to fall victim to shirking the naked obviousness of the direction we’re going.

    That is to say, I don’t think we are at the Rubicon yet - trying not to doom post. But I wanted to say it isn’t difficult to understand why other people don’t see it. The world built around them makes it easier to look the other way.



  • You say leftists stayed home because genocide, but look…

    I am firmly on the left. Most of the people I choose to associate with are as well. All of us went to marches for Palestine when it was possible for us. We did what we could and…

    All of us voted for Kamala Harris. We participated in electoral politics because we heard what people like you were saying about broad outcomes. I know it’s not the same everywhere, but most leftist spaces that are very critical of the Democrats that I frequent shared this sentiment.

    I know it’s anecdotal, and other leftists can dunk on us for it, whatever, I don’t care.

    But I’m tired of seeing threads with comment after comment being specifically about blaming the left abstainers. It’s fucking over! The election is over and pointing fingers blaming people isn’t helping anyone. You want to feel good for being right? I know you’re angry, I get it, but what is your point? You just want people to feel bad? Okay, they feel bad. The situation is shit and getting worse by the day. How is this building a unified resistance? How is this helping anyone but yourself?



  • Obviously, there is quite a lot to develop here, but I’m curious about future communications between whoever set up the website and social media for this general strike and labor organizers or leaders like UAW’s Shawn Fain. I perused the website briefly and there seems to be, as of this moment, no mention of labor union involvement. Not that it’s required, but Fain has already called for a general strike in 2028. (Which I know, is quite awhile away.) I like organic uprisings and gladly, I will strike whenever the call is sounded. Hell I’ve been telling people we need a general strike for years. I just think that an endorsement or open discussion with popular known figures on board would do a lot to convince way more people that this isn’t a dream.

    There was so much fervor around the climate strike action in 2019, but ultimately, I fail to see much realization of change. I was a part of Occupy in 2011, and although I’m certain it and other actions bring an awareness and conversation that would have not materialized without it, it too is also pointed as the example of action having not met its goals, at least when I hear it referenced. I want a general strike that wins not just in spreading awareness, but also in material, legislative expediency.

    I hate to sound doubtful, I want this to happen. I don’t know exactly what I’m trying to say here except that I’d have liked to see a mention or acknowledgement by the initiators of this call to strike that labor unions are already thinking on these terms and that there is or will be an effort to include them, as their involvement will greatly increase our chances at success.

    I’m also open to hearing from anyone with a critique of my perspective, which is really born out of a cynicism and disillusionment with the world. I am often wrong about many many things. My heart is just, broken, man.



  • Although it’s been sporadic for him as he is no professional, my dad has always sculpted as his creative outlet. His best work being from the time period after we lost my mom. His chosen medium are various woods, but when I had an interest myself, he would show me carving techniques in soap bars and create initial sculpture(s) in clay before attempting to remove material on the final workpiece. I only made a couple things in wood, but I got more into charcoal drawing and music and didn’t explore the third dimension much more (until I got into modeling on the computer for practical/machining purposes). I imagine CAD design and 3d modeling programs likely had an impact on the interest in physical sculpture in general.