Squirrel the Riveted

@rivetedsquirrel.bsky.social

246 Followers 284 Following

Michigander. Doomer Optimist.

In particular, we expect the future to provide new and hopefully better ways to live a fulfilling life, and for more people to experience such a life than do today. It is true that work will be different, the economic transition may be very difficult in some ways, and it is even possible that the fundamental socioeconomic contract will have to change. But in a world of widely-distributed abundance, people’s lives can be much better than they are today.
THE TRUE PARADOX OF TOLERANCE BY PHILOSOPHER KARL POPPER* YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE POPPER PARADOX THANKS TO THIS? I NEVER SAID THAT! (PICTOLINE.COM) POPPER ARGUED THAT SOCIETY VIA ITS INSTITUTIONS, SHOULD HAVE A RIGHT TO PROHIBIT THOSE WHO ARE INTOLERANT FOR POPPER, ON WHAT GROUNDS MAY SOCIETY SUPPRESS THE INTOLERANT ? When they "are not prepared to meet on the level of rational argument" "they forbid their followers to listen to rational argument... & teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols" THE ARGUMENT OF THE INTOLERABLY INTOLERANT IS FORCE & VIOLENCE "LINLIMITED TOLERANCE MUST LEAD TO THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TOLERANCE" WE MISCONSTRUE THIS PARADOX AT OUR PERIL... ...TO THE EXTENT THAT ONE GROUP COULD DECLARE ANOTHER GROUP 'INTOLERANT, JUST TO PROHIBIT THEIR IDEAS, SPEECH & OTHER FREEDOMS *Source: The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl R. Popper Muchas gracias a @lokijustice y asivaespana.com
Sam Knowlton (@samdknowlton) on Twitter: "The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter." - Bill Mollison
Social media post (Hacker News perhaps?) If all farmers suddenly disappeared tomorrow we'd go hungry for a little bit before we figured it out and were just fine. And that's because it's a job that literally anyone could do. We have the farmers we do because they're the ones who inherited a shit ton of land from their great grandfather, not because they have some highly specialized set of skills the rest of us couldn't possibly figure out with just a few google searches.
There's one study I came across when researching for this episode in the Journal of Medical Ethics, and it was asking whether universities should mandate third-dose COVID-19 boosters. And they estimate that to prevent one hospitalization over a six-month period, you'd have to vaccinate between, roughly, 31,000 to 42,000 young adults. In order to do that, you're getting a handful of adverse events and up to 5,000 adverse reactions that would "interfere with daily activities." And as a result of that, they cor lude that university booster mandates are unethical because they don't take into account the low risk this group faces with Omicron, which was the wave at the time, and they're just not proportionate, among other reasons.
Bedard: There are sort of two levels in thinking about how you answer that. First of all, there's a really important distinction to be made between public health and medicine, right? Public health is the creation of policy and intervention meant to apply to groups of people or universally across population in the interest of the many. Medicine is the practice of helping people improve their own health that's practiced individually with the patient in front of you.
And what I think is really important to recognize is: Really until the pandemic, a lot of what Kennedy talks about-the idea that government and Big Pharma are in cahoots with one another, and that we're overprescribing medications to ourselves, especially to our kids; the idea that we're poisoning the environment with toxins; the idea that food companies are tempting kids with high-sugar, high-fructose, dyed products that then are contributing to a childhood-obesity epidemic—all of those things, I think, coded as liberal critiques of the medical establishment until very recently.
As a reward from London Transport, Mr Gunter was given £10 (the equivalent of about £350 today) and a day off. He was awarded the cash at a ceremony, and when asked what he would do with the bonus, he said "five for me and five for the missus"
Micah @rincewind.run • 11h what's happening on twitter right now shows just how important it was for left of center people to leave it earlier these assholes need a target, and deprived of their preferred options they are ripping each other to shreds.
"The infected cats died after severe worsening of their illness, and subsequently tested positive for influenza A, a rare result in cats," the release stated. Health officials are considering these "suspected H5 bird flu cases" and confirmatory testing is underway.
Beaver chewed stump
DAILY KOS The need for migrants to supply our food chain is undeniable and even more so as convicted felon and President-elect Donald Trump promises mass deportations when he takes office. "Mass deportations could affect our entire dairy industry throughout the U.S.," Maine dairy farmer Jennifer Tilton Flood told Newsweek. "The idea of mass deportations is frightening and scary, just on a humane level, with regards to our community."
“Reconstructions of living conditions over the long-run suggest that when Malthus wrote these words in 1789, he was right about t'e past. As the visualization here shows, GDP per capita - the average income of people - had remained extremely low.“ “GDP per capita - the average income of people - had remained extremely low” is highlighted
shaka (@beejonson.me) on Bluesky: Every once in a while you would hear western liberal and so-called "progressive" and green types say shit like: "The earth would be better off without humans." Yeah, I don't agree with that stupid and white supremacist logic. “White supremacist logic” is quoted
First page of wikipedia article: "Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American former NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower[4] who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. He became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2022." "leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs" is highlighted.
“It’s definitely worth remembering as a parent that iPads are mobile devices with Wi-Fi and in some cases cellular transmitters. The panic over mobile phones and children has receded somewhat in recent years, but we should remind you that *in 2011 the World Health Organisation classed mobile phones as Group 2B “possibly carcinogenic to humans”*. This includes iPads with 4G Cellular Connection. According to Cancer Research UK this means that there is some evidence for risk, but it’s not that convincing.“
4. Strömqvist (Ok I had 4!). Swedish cartoonist and contemporary critic who in his latest book specifically touches on criticism of medicine and the need for control. Illich is quoted liberally. Funny and apt. Easy to read and hard to digest for everyone about over-medicalization.
3. Illich. Austrian/American philosopher and priest who mercilessly sees the increasingly overshadowing role of healthcare in society. Radical medicine critic, nothing for the novice. No one and nothing is spared here. Man must learn to live with pain and adversity.
2. Rosa. German sociologist who theorizes the disposal of the outside world and modernity's pursuit of perfect control: "a completely known, planned and controlled world would be a dead world at the same time. The encounter with the unknown is life" Short, thoughtful, shocking.
For those interested in criticism of medicine, over-medicalization and the contemporary need for control, I have three book recommendations: 1. O’Mahoney. Irish doctor who goes through the pitfalls and broken promises of modern medicine. Words and no rhymes. Grumpy in a fun way.
But healthcare, even with 100% of GDP invested, cannot cure either death or the doubts of existence. On the contrary, the spirit of life is pushed aside when everything becomes care. It is the task of healthcare to set limits in this. To prioritize the sickest, the most fragile, those in greatest need of care. It will create anger. Frustration. It's not a selling point. You're a mean doctor who doesn't want to examine everything, always. I wish for a stronger social movement against the power of medicine, which is not about alternative mumbo jumbo, but respect for the urgency of life outside the gray scale of the MRI machine and the pulse watch analysis.
People like this. It gets "relevant information about their health" through their watches and apps. The body barely seems to exist if it is not recorded. At the same time, all the great medical advances are many decades behind us. Mortality and morbidity have decreased mainly due to sanitation and good food. There is such an overconfidence in the power of medicine. It is supposed to cure all human conditions. The disappointment when mortality is still a fact is endless. The magic of our time. Other social and community-based support networks have been watered down. Existential questions have no place. Healthcare should take them too.
Wearables, apps, external actors analyzing samples without link to symptoms. Little realization that overdiagnosis also harms. That the unnecessary test leads to an unnecessary bowel examination that can damage the bowel, for example. And uncertainty is not decreasing. It is increasing. In parallel, we have a development where taking care of your health is almost a moral imperative. It is not just a right, but a DUTY not to search for the slightest tremor. You may miss the chance to optimize life expectancy. There are no limits in technology. Whole genome analysis, constant parameter measurement.
This is not just my feeling. It's an extremely well-documented phenomenon: medicalization. The vicissitudes of life fall into the arena of medicine. Grief becomes depression. Shyness becomes social phobia. Stage fright anxiety, with beta blockers as treatment. All discomfort is to be countered, cured, overcome with medicine. All sensations are potentially dangerous. They must be investigated. There is no longer any trust in the body itself. Blood values, measurements, imaging show the truth. Ideally, the whole body should be visualized. This has escalated with digitization.
"It is part of life to feel the body in different ways. All setbacks and sensations are not the business of care. Would like to argue that we have far too much medicine and care rather than too little today. Resources are certainly needed, but the population's perceived need for care will never be met."
Austen Allred (@Austen) on Twitter: "The ingredient list is roughly the same other than the artificial dyes and Butylated hydroxytoluene" is one of the funniest things ever written in the New York Times Quote tweeting Brad Cohn (@BradCohn) Spitting out my coffee after reading this NYT "fact check" of RFK Jr. Embedded screenshot from New York Times article: Mr. Kennedy has singled out Froot Loops as an example of a product with too many artificial ingredients, questioning why the Canadian version has fewer than the U.S. version. But he was wrong. The ingredient list is roughly the same, although Canada's has natural colorings made from blueberries and carrots while the U.S. product contains red dye 40, yellow 5 and blue 1 as well as Butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT, a lab-made chemical that is used "for freshness," according to the ingredient label.
“The new four-year term for the role begins in March and includes more elemental tasks than just choosing political vendors: The next chair will be responsible for setting the 2028 primary calendar as well as determining presidential debate parameters, not to mention framing the party's midterm message and marshaling its fundraising efforts across the map.“
"*We shouldn’t underestimate the consequences of even subtle shifts in messaging about the importance of vaccines*. It can cement distrust among those already opposed to them and nudge a larger segment of the public feeling uncertain about their value into that more distrustful camp — after all, those views aren’t fringe anymore; they’ve been spoken into the mainstream by the nominee for HHS secretary."
“The US spends roughly 20% of GDP on health care today. Insurance has become even more expensive. Of course, that is only a small aspect of the effects of medicalization, he is above all criticizing what it does to us as people and society to constantly understand ourselves through the filters of diagnoses and medicine.” (From Google Translate, hopefully accurate!)
Interesting to see people talking about the Constitution like a monument we can just disassemble and rebuild when it suits us, rather than the most tenuous thread holding us back from tearing each other apart.
“Activism is increasingly instrumental, so it's forming a form of power that is tied to the logic and algorithm of the status quo, which makes activism, even in the search for justice, a creature of the status quo, which makes hope and justice, as ironic as that sounds, a creature of the things we're trying to leave behind.“ -Bayo Akomolafe
Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) on Twitter, January 28th, 2020: "We are going to start learning about supply chain dependencies now." He was quote tweeting Nikkel Asia who said: "Exclusive: Asian suppliers warn #Apple about #coronavirus impact"
List of presidential candidates in Michigan. Box next to Jill Stein is filled in.
Umar Farooq on Twitter: “this is a story about how grassroots efforts of a community looking to make their anger at the Dems known was taken by Dem strategists and turned into a political and media machine supporting the very candidate who is the target of that anger”
Willow coffin base with willow weaving tools, including two hand forged “bodkins” (awls).
The Progressive Michigander (@Progress_Mich) on Twitter: I just listened to Harris Pandora ad calling Trump's tariff plan "the sales tax of doom" and telling me to look around my kitchen for products made in China. I don't know who on the Harris team is running their ad campaign in Michigan, but they need to be fired.
Man ripping paper into strips
“Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel
Picture of Lake Michigan, with sand dunes and scrubby forest in the foreground.
A virtual certificate with text "Celebrating 10M users on Bluesky, #1,273,747, Squirrel the Riveted ‪@rivetedsquirrel.bsky.social‬, joined on Sep 29, 2023"
Rooster and mama hen with three baby chicks
VOTE! Your vote is your voice. The cost of silence - or a third-party vote — in 2024: • Abortion rights nationwide • Social Security and Medicare • Robust voting rights • Protection of our air, land, and water • Safety for LGBTQ citizens • The fight for unions, a living wage, and fair taxation Two-thirds of Americans support these goals. MAGA Republicans prefer: • Cutting taxes for the rich and big corporations • Gutting government at all levels • Pitting Americans against each other We are the majority - but it only counts if we vote.
"A lack of testing, opaque data, political divides, poor healthcare access and a sense of hubris - all have plagued the Covid response, and now these errors are playing across the bird flu response, Gonsalves said."
Chris Hayes (@chrishayes) on Twitter • Aug 23 I really feel duty bound to keep pointing out to people that the electoral college is an insane unworkable mess and creates wild distortions in the single most important election in the country that literally don't exist in any other election.
@zei_squirrel on Twitter: everything Lawrence O'Donnell says here is a truism that no one can deny: "If you want to pull the major party that is closest to the way you're thinking to what you're thinking, you must, you must, show them that you're capable of not voting for them. If you don't show them you're capable of not voting for them, they don't have to listen to you. I promise you that. I worked within the Democratic Party. I didn't listen or have to listen to anything on the left while I was working in the Democratic Party because the left had nowhere to go."
Even if the plastic-eating microbes turn out to be safe for human consumption, Techtmann said, the public might still balk at the prospect of eating something nourished on plastic waste. For this reason, he said, *this particular group of microbes might prove most useful on remote military bases or during disaster relief, where it could be consumed short-term, to help people survive.* “I think there’s a bit less of a concern about the ick factor,” said Techtmann, “if it’s really just, ‘This is going to keep me alive for another day or two.’”
Woman on phone saying “without money we would all be rich”
(CNN) - A New York judge ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s ballot-access petition in the state is invalid, delivering the first major blow to the independent presidential candidate's bid for nationwide ballot access. New York Supreme Court Justice Christina Ryba accepted the arguments made by Democratic voters and supported by *Clear Choice PAC, a pro-Kamala Harris group seeking to combat third party candidates*, which claimed Kennedy violated state law by listing a New York address as his residence on the petition despite living in California.
The "cardinal" symptoms of Long COVID include brain fog and memory changes, fatigue, rapid sudden onset of heart rate, significant sleep disturbances, and immense sense of 'iscomfort and illness after exerting oneself. *There are no cures and, worse, no diagnostic tools that can tell someone they have Long COVID*. Only recently have healthcare workers and researchers begun to identify treatments for Long COVID, but there is an absence of randomized trials to guide these decisions.
Adam Serwer‬ ‪@adamserwer.bsky.social‬ Many but I think the main one is different ideological relationships to capitalism; do you see it as a necessary evil whose flaws require state intervention or a system that needs to be replaced entirely ‪@chrismattox.bsky.social‬ I think the two groups also have very different views about the appropriate use of state authority. Liberals, as the name implies, value individual liberty a lot more highly than leftists, who are much more comfortable with the use of state power to achieve their goals
‪Grant Goodyear‬ ‪@g2boojum.bsky.social‬ With my sincere apologies for being an idiot, could you point me to a reliable explainer of the difference between leftists and liberals? Adam Serwer ‪@adamserwer.bsky.social‬ Many but I think the main one is different ideological relationships to capitalism; do you see it as a necessary evil whose flaws require state intervention or a system that needs to be replaced entirely
UK government on Twitter: “Think before you post”. Retweets “Crown Prosecution Ser…” which says “Think before you post! Content that incites violence or hatred isn’t just harmful -it can be illegal. The CPS takes online violence seriously and…”
Mark Chadbourn: “Amusing watching several US commentators absolutely losing their shit that people in the UK can get arrested for hate speech.”