Been at the library a lot this summer holidays, just got back now and thinking about malls and flea markets and libraries

Y'know how you've got that little crow inside you that enjoys the act of Going Somewhere, getting Bags of Shinies, then coming home and examining those shinies, and sometimes you gotta give the crow a treat?

🐹 Man, you're so consumerist-minded, you gotta let go of the -
🦝 Shut up you have a crow as well, anyway as I was saying, the act of going out, getting a large amount of Things and bringing them back satisfies the crow. It gives the crow warm feelings of abundance and security, and the mall and the online shopping apps can feed that crow but at the expense of your wallet.

Daughter just filled up two big canvas bags of library books. Overflowing. Swollen. Our rule is she can take as many as she can carry, and we always end up breaking it. Bulging, heavy sacks of shinies.

If you've got a hole in you that could be filled by getting heavy bags of shinies, the library keeps that crow FED. The crow doesn't know the difference between shopping and borrowing, the heavy bags taste the same, it just cares about Bags Of Stuff, it's the same feeling.

A Little Adventure to Go Somewhere and Acquire Stuff. It fills the same hole.

Except the library ALSO feeds the beast that enjoys REMOVING stacks of things from the house and going "Ahh, that's better, bit more room in here now," because after a couple of weeks you've got to take them back

...and get more

I bet my fiancée that this picture of our cats could get 10 billion boosts on Mastodon.

She said she doesn't believe me. She said there's only 13 million accounts on Mastodon. She said there aren't even 10 billion people on Earth. She said it concerns her that I struggle so hard to comprehend large numbers.

Let's prove her wrong everyone. Boost away and show her just how awesome the Mastodon community is.

Long post

Reading From Dictatorship to Democracy by Gene Sharp has really helped clarify my thinking about our current situation. Being in a situation where the dictator hasn't completed the takeover muddies things a bit, but there are many things we should be thinking about and starting to do.

The first thing is, what is the goal of our resistance to the Trump regime? Seems simple, but I don't think there is an agreed upon goal. Are we just looking to remove Trump and go back to "normal"? That doesn't address the structural problems with our laws and Constitution that allowed us to get here. Is the goal to bring down the government and replace it with something new? That would be a hard sell for center left citizens. Having a common goal is necessary for determining what and how we resist.

A common goal is needed to answer the question I've heard a lot lately, "What next?". From the goal we can start strategic planning. Strategic planning leads to tactical planning, and actions. There is a lot of planning and actions that need to happen to set the stage for further actions.

For instance, a general strike. I'm guilty of throwing this out as a course of action without really thinking through what that would entail. Things like a strike fund for people who otherwise couldn't afford to take a day or a week off of work without pay. Mutual support and aid for food, childcare... All in a country that prizes the individual over the community.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Some things to think about: What would be your desired end state? What would you be willing to accept as an end state? This is where we start.

Me: It doesn't have a tail, so I'm pretty sure it's a hamster.

Tech support: “sigh”

Fine. Right click on your hamster...