hesgen @hesgen@social.cleverlibre.org

Poland: Member of the far-right party extinguished the Hanukkah menorah in the parliament building

Nope, it isn't antisemitism, right?
Oh, #Poland, have you learned nothing?

#jews #jewish #antisemitism

“Free speech!”

“Freedom of religion!”

“Wait! …not like that!!”

Republicans are in meltdown mode as The Satanic Temple set up a monument in the Iowa Capitol

Every year Christian groups push for more Christian displays in public spaces

Every year The Satanic Temple reveals the inherent hypocrisy in only allowing this for Christians

You can hear Christian protests to the ideals of

“Wisdom, justice, rationality, unity, empathy…”

Sounds more reasonable than *your* guy.

HAIL SATAN!

"The decisions taken at this Cop are far more important and vital for the future of all nations than the outcome of a vote tonight that will have little or no impact in the long term. Politics is about priorities and our priorities should be demonstrating clear UK leadership on climate action, but you have to actually be in the room to lead.”

Chris Skidmore,
Conservative MP,
U.K.

#COP28
#ClimateAction

I hope everyone is following that #Tesla sympathy strike in Scandinavia because it’s getting even better by the day.

Norwegian unions have now joined Swedish and Danish ones.

The Danish pension fund has announced its going to dump it’s Tesla shares.

Finnish unions are talking about joining.

And now this:

Collecting anecdotes, data, and anecdata on people and orgs who’ve left Twitter and found higher engagement from ostensibly fewer followers. This is in preparation for a renewed pitch to the org I’m in, to begin the process of x-trication. Boosts appreciated!

"Does he paint? he fain would write a poem—
Does he write? he fain would paint a picture."
One Word More

Robert Browning English poet of the Victorian age was born #OTD in 1889. His most popular poems include Porphyria's Lover, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, the diptych Meeting at Night, the patriotic Home Thoughts from Abroad, and the children's poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin. via @wikipedia

Books by Robert Browning@ PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/146

#books #potery #literature

COP28 Update:

“The good news is that we all agree this text is shit.”

Rachel Cleetus,
Union of Concerned Scientists.

#COP28
#ClimateAction

Long Covid symptoms:

It's getting to that time of year again, when Covid cases are going to skyrocket, so is worth posting this:

I have Long Covid, and have had since early 2022 (I got my first dose of Covid in the first week of Jan 2022).

A slight change in phrasing and how I talk about it, which may have more cut-through (my phrasing in most the below is quite deliberate, and is designed to provoke)

A lot is talked about about fatigue and brain fog, which feels like things one can just power through if one just "mans up" about it, or "powers through" (which we all think we can do)

Cool, cool.

This is a non-exhaustive list of things which have changed:

I can barely tolerate coffee. I drink mine black with no sugar and drank a LOT of it, like all Proper Men,. It now sends my heart rate through the roof, and if I have too much, I get nauseous.

I can barely tolerate alcohol (of any kind), and if I do drink, I get ill very, very quickly. So, going out for "beers with the lads" lie a Proper Man is pretty much out of the question.

Neon Junior (*cough*) sometimes misbehaves and doesn't perform when called upon. As a Proper Man, this is clearly unacceptable.

(yes, I hemmed and hawed about whether to include the above, as it's a *very* awkward thing to admit. I made a joke about not being able to get it up a day or so ago with reference to some plants of all things, but...almost every honest fella has had it happen at least once, and it's massively embarrassing. Covid is known for causing it)

So, y'know, Covid has stopped me from being a Proper Man.

-----------

Less provocatively now.

I'm really starting to lose "myself", and a lot of what makes me "me", and that I took pride in.

I made barbacoa today, a multi-hour dish that normally I'd have posted every step, with some joy at the process. Instead, it's been a real chore, and I really had to force myself to not just through the fucking thing in the bin, and actually follow through with cooking it. This, for me, is not good news.

I'm having to use funnels, sometimes, to add spices into jars, because my hands shake so much that I need a wide area for them to shake into. If I just use a teaspoon, there's a reasonable chance I'll have a shake and scatter everything across my kitchen.

I've noticed I make a *lot* of typos (sometimes changing the entire meaning of a post). I used to be a good typist, and I was sharp enough to spot when I mistyped or wrote "could" when I meant "couldn't"

I sometimes read posts, and misinterpret them (through cognitive decline). Coupla days ago, I replied to a post having literally misread it, to the point that the OP must have looked at it and thought "what the fuck is he talking about? That has no bearing on what I just said lol"

(luckily, it was pretty mundane, but still. He was talking about lobsters and I "read" oysters, so replied with a complete non-sequitur)

Most importantly I'm struggling to take care of my birbs. I'm sacrificing everything else needed to ensure that I still have the energy needed to clean their perches etc, make sure they're fed, watered, played with and cared for. Above everything, this is my absolute number one priority.

------------

I think that if people realised just how *diminishing* Long Covid is, and how it ruins your life and everything you once took pride in and cared about; and the chances are high of catching it (I did *everything* to avoid it, and I still got it because other people weren't), I hope they'd take more care, and more precautions.

Please do.

Today’s poem is called ‘Haiku in Praise of 12th December’.

English clergyman, physicist & astronomer James Challis was born #OTD in 1803.

He is best known for the part he played in the search for Neptune: during routine observations, he actually recorded the planet on 4 Aug 1846 but failed to recognise its true nature. The discovery was eventually announced on 23 Sep 1846 by J. G. Galle & H. L. d'Arrest following a successful search carried out from Berlin Observatory. via @SocHistAstron

James Challis at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/32563

#books #astronomy