Tom Lehrer, Musical Hero gave away his songs before he passed. Even more reasons to love this man.
"All copyrights to lyrics or music written or composed by me have been permanently and irrevocably relinquished, and therefore such songs are now in the public domain. " https://tomlehrersongs.com/
(and he just passed at 97)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html
Ultimately, I think the reason folks with privilege and underdeveloped empathy insist on a captive audience is because their egos need a foil.
There is no value in saying transgressive things if there’s no one triggered by it.
The point is to offend and provoke a reaction. That’s it. It’s not complicated.
Reactionaries get bored with themselves.
They need someone to “react” to their crude, self-destructive, nihilistic ways.
Sometimes, people make fun of guys for doing stuff like this, but I think it's way more cool to do something you are passionate about, that is actually constructive, than buying guns for a self-created Apocalypse and harassing women online, because they won't have sex with them.
Nerds rule!
Another day - another friend testing positive for Covid. Sicker than the last time (so much for herd immunity eh?)
There was a small glimmer of hope when they admitted that they had become really lax on precautions and were sick and tired of being sick and tired.
When someone says this to you - do you take the opportunity to gently encourage them to resume masking? I try and re-affirm how effective a good quality respirator is - as well as nasal sprays and mouth washes for an extra layer.
What I’ve noticed though is that people seem really interested in mitigations when they’re acutely ill… and may even mask for a few weeks after… but then the peer pressure to eat indoors, go without the mask and “get back to normal” always wins out. Until the next time they get sick. Rinse and repeat.
It’s heartbreaking to watch since we know each covid infection is a roll of the dice with respect to ending up disabled by Long Covid - and we don’t fully know the long term effects of multiple infections. What we DO know isn’t encouraging.
How can we convince people to not only re-start mitigations - but not give up on them? How can we keep them from retreating into the denial bubble so many are firmly stuck in?
#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare
VOTE!
Via Kyle Griffin:
#Abortion rights are on the ballot in 10 states this November:
Arizona
Colorado
Florida
Maryland
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New York
South Dakota
Brewster Kahle
David Roberts
Matthew Malthouse
Coach Pāṇini ®
Gregg Gonsalves
Ricki Yasha Tarr
Broadwaybabyto
Laffy
Benno