oldladyplays

pluralistic , 3 months ago to random

Hard to overstate how enshittified and botshitted Google Maps has become. Went looking for my local locksmith on Gmaps. Maps shows 20+ fake locksmith referral scam outlets and doesn't even register the real locksmith, despite it being fully visible in Street View.

Instead, a red pin on the shop identifies it as a fake locksmith scammer. The real locksmith - which has been there SINCE 1942 (!!) and is a verified merchant - doesn't even show up.

Google Maps, showing the storefront for Golden State Lock as an empty building.

oldladyplays , 3 months ago

@tomjennings

I have seen this with taxis (which never see the number on my huge apartment building, drive right past and up the street where their GPS tells them to, wrongly), and with delivery drivers (who often are directed to the back door, which I cannot open remotely for them, by their GPS).

@bougiewonderland @pluralistic @AnnaAnthro

futurebird , 3 months ago to random

I think most people would object to forcing women to wear skirts. Beating up girls who do unladylike things like dancing or calculus. Many can even see how silly it is to tease a boy for enjoying painting more than sports.

Most* get this.

What I don't understand is how it isn't obvious that transphobia is the exact same impulse.

There is no "reasonable" amount of transphobia you can tolerate without also supporting rigid harmful gender norms in general. 1/

oldladyplays , 3 months ago

@futurebird

Thank you for this. It's so important to hear.

oldladyplays , 4 months ago to random

I am fully infertile.

I want to get that out of the way up front, because it's true. I have no dog in the fight.

But I want to state, unequivocally and clearly, that I stand with those who have the equipment for giving birth on the topic of abortion, and IVF, and any other power grabs the right comes up with to control the bodies of birthing people.

For me, it's an issue we as trans people should be fighting as hard for as we fight for our own direct issues. Bodily autonomy applies. It's the same basic issue motivating both anti-trans and anti-abortion campaigners: control of others' bodies.

When we fight for abortion access, we are indirectly and directly still fighting for trans people. We're fighting for trans masc and AFAB enby people to be given full rights over their own bodies. That's the direct path. We're also fighting for the right for all trans people to control our bodies.

So let's stand beside our uterine neighbours, trans women. We are all in the same fight.

oldladyplays OP , 4 months ago

Now, the flip side.

Cis women! It's time you stood up with us to fight for trans rights. It's your fight too.

Why? Because it's all about bodily autonomy. Trans people are fighting for the right to control our own bodies. Sound familiar?

It's the same fight, women. We need your help, just as we give ours. We are in the same fight, and should be shoulder to shoulder about both our sets of issues.

The best way to fight fascism is together. The more of us fighting, the better our chances of winning.

futurebird , 4 months ago to random

It’s not easy to assemble an outfit this boring. An outfit that is so unremarkable it’s remarkable. This the essence of my fashion movement. That’s Bland Fancy.

#borecore #fashion

oldladyplays , 4 months ago

@futurebird

It's a great look on you!

oldladyplays , 4 months ago

@futurebird

The Anodyne Androgyne.

CultureDesk , 4 months ago to bookstodon group

"Gen Z is bringing back reading," says The Week, which leads us to wonder what the heck it is we've been doing all these years. But, the publication explains, it's not just reading — it's real books, made of paper. Per research published in @TheConversationUS: "Gen Zers and millennials prefer books in print over e-books and audiobooks" which has manifested in an "unlikely love affair with their local libraries." Here's a breakdown of what might be happening. We want to know: How do you like to read these days?

https://flip.it/zJEJAK

#Books #Reading @bookstodon #GenZ #Libraries

oldladyplays , 4 months ago

@CultureDesk @TheConversationUS @bookstodon

Depends if it's night or day. In the day, I'm okay with a print book. At night, I'd much rather have the light off and use an e-reader, it's easier on my eyes and helps me go to sleep faster. Also, falling asleep reading doesn't lose my page.

I have a collection of about 2000 paperbacks, mostly, largely science fiction and fantasy. These days I mostly buy e-books, because I don't have space for more physical books. I can't afford more bookshelves, nor do I have the open wallspace to install them against.

futurebird , 4 months ago to random

Last week the Democrats were the majority on the floor for a vote.

Couldn't they have raised a discharge petition? Kicked out the creepy little speaker in his creepy little suit? Elected a new speaker and passed stuff until enough republicans showed up to stop them???

oldladyplays , 4 months ago

@futurebird

Unfortunately, the little weasel would surely have appointed a Speaker Pro Tem if he wasn't there himself, meaning he is the only one who gets to say what comes to the floor. If someone came from the Dems and asked for discharge, he'd have simply said no.

This is the peril of a partisan Speaker, and the reason that Westminster systems have an officially nonpartisan Speaker (chosen from sitting members, but expected to rule in a nonpartisan way in the House).

futurebird , 4 months ago to random

I've been reading some stories about "life in the army" and there's something cheerful and reckless about the life that if you forget what the job is really about might almost sound appealing. Camaraderie. Bawdy jokes. Brothers at Arms.

I have a vague notion that male stoicism is promoted to keep young men starving for human closeness ... so that dying, and killing and giving up your humanity ...at least with some good buddies starts to sound appealing.

oldladyplays , 4 months ago

@futurebird

As someone who wore their country's uniform (until they kicked me out for being queer), perhaps I can add some perspective.

There's a real emphasis put in the military on being friends with your colleagues. This is because it has long been known that when people fight in wars, they do so not for abstract ideals, not for flag and country, but for the people in the trench beside them. Their buddies.

You never blade your buddy in the army. He or she is going to be the one who has to decide whether to step out into a hail of bullets and haul your wounded ass back to safety...or not.

While there are absolutely camaraderie and good friends available in soup kitchens and other volunteer opportunities, the lack of outside threat means that there isn't the same drive to get along. There's room for drama and feelings.

In uniform, there isn't room for those things. The way of the warrior is the resolute acceptance of one's own death. That makes the job different than almost any other.

Because that's the other secret. You have to care enough about the other members of your side to be willing to put your body in the way of potential lethal harm, in order to do your part in keeping as many of you alive as possible. You try, therefore, to generate a familial feeling within the unit, so that people will have that level of devotion to one another, and will do extraordinary things to help one another. Including sometimes sacrificing their lives to save their buddies. The best way to get someone to be willing to do that is to create that familial feeling.

Is it manipulation? Yes. Are the feelings it generates real nonetheless? Also yes. If you want to look for the conspiracy here, it's in the government failing to provide opportunity enough to young working class kids to make the army an unattractive prospect. If you literally cannot find another way to make a living, then a steady if poor income, with healthcare included, becomes a pretty attractive option.