szescstopni @szescstopni@social.cleverlibre.org

Casey and Finnegan out in the snow. It warmed up to -26°C so it was finally time to get outside. We all needed it. #DogsOfMastodon #IrishWolfhound #GoldenRetriever #CityOfPG #snow #winter #photography

They necessarily rely on social ties for survival, looking after each others' kids, loaning each other money they can't afford, sharing what little they have when others have nothing.

It's this social cohesion that MLMs weaponize. Crypto "entrepreneurs" are told to suck in friends and family by telling them that they're "building Black wealth." Working women are exhorted to suck in their bffs by appealing to their sisterhood and the chance for "women to lift each other up."

8/

In every scam, there's a period where everyone feels richer - but only the scammers are *actually* cleaning up. The wealth of the marks is illusory, but the longer the scammer can preserve the illusion, the more real money the marks will pump into the system.

MLMs are particularly ugly, because they target people who are shut out of economic opportunity - women, people of color, working people.

7/

We removed advertising cookies, here’s what happened https://blog.sentry.io/we-removed-advertising-cookies-heres-what-happened/

Cuddle critter content: Inca at home. This photo's pose reminds me of high school senior photos from the 1990s for some reason.

Nikon z6ii, f/4.5, 1/320s, ISO 5000 (sob), supplemental lighting, handheld.
#DogsOfMastodon #Dogs early #MonDog

Am I the only one who feels like still using employment rate as a metric for a healthy economy is basically just gaslighting at this point?

Employment used to mean you had a good chance of affording a home, maybe two kids, and potentially even on just a single income. Now you can have a full time job and still need food stamps or a side job just to pay bills.

Then of course, because salaries are so low relative to the cost of living, it makes employment numbers look even better because people who wouldn't have been forced to work now are. You have households where both parents have full time jobs, people with disabilities forced to work because they can't cover bills, students dropping out of college because it's now unaffordable.

Then some goober economist comes on TV and goes "well, unemployment is at record lows so obviously everything is fine"

I get that this video format isn't for everyone, but I dig the whole concept of "pain-free gardening" and the fact that there's information out there now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQyqptXpzw

My sisters in Satan, if it makes corporations more powerful and billionaires richer, while the rest of us struggle to make a living out of a full-time job - it is not progress, it is fascism. And don't let them make you believe otherwise.

Prime @pluralistic : "Apple's most valuable intangible asset isn't its patents or copyrights – it's an army of people who believe that using products from a $2.89 trillion multinational makes them members of an oppressed religious minority whose identity is coterminal with the interests of Apple's shareholders."

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Your yearly reminder that ‘layoff season’ is an American invention that infected the rest of the world.

Layoffs cost a company 35% more than retaining a core staff over 3 years.

The only purpose is for inflating investor reports.

Layoffs in tech immediately degrade the product, reduce security, create safeguarding issues, and inevitably destabilise the future of a given product.

Your water and food is inadequate, foolish human. What I desire is dirty snow.

#dogsofmastodon #bernesemountaindog

Ah, the occasional #snow storm in the south.

Things I don't miss.

#Ottawa
Where do you dispose of your old light bulbs? They're mostly not LEDs (because the ex-owner was weird).

It's really hard to find information online.. anywhere you don't have to call ahead of time?

@carolleisa @hannu_ikonen @STL_Inquiries

There's a great quote going around, which I'll paraphrase: "In a time of performatuve cruelty, being kind is punk as fuck."

If anyone is curious about how difficult it can be to get social services in the US, the town of Edwardsville, IL is fining a church $750/day for operating a warming shelter for the homeless (the town's only, the town itself provides no services) without a permit. As I write this post, the temp in Edwardsville is -7F/-22C.

#homeless #SocialContract #Ethics #LocalGovernment #Illinois #stlouis
Don't be #SilentSunday

https://www.ksdk.com/article/weather/city-fines-edwardsville-church-for-providing-warming-shelter-without-new-special-permit/63-ae884972-cd9c-4714-a475-0c37b5d0f629

@futurebird I got an A+ in college botany because I have a horrifying imagination and would happily translate all of the plant concepts into human terms - enormous swimming sperm, plants creating guns out of their own bodies and launching newborn babies into other plants... It made it easier to remember.