ladymordecai

[ladymordecai]

[ladymordecai]

Best history fact acquired today: apparently in the early Han dynasty the data-gathering necessary to keep accurate tax records was taken very seriously, as the recognized foundation of an operational imperial state.

Specifically, the actual emperor was expected to perform obeisances upon receiving the census and harvest data for the year. The translation of Jia Yi I'm looking at in this paper refers to this as being among 'the rituals for receiving statistics.'

That's banger.

Like, considered teleologically as historical context for the surveillance state, less rad! But rituals for receiving statistics. Just!

A whole ritual category for being provided with actionable datasets! That's some real shit. This is the historical information I'm here for.

[ladymordecai]

IF YOU LIVE IN THE US AND WOULD RATHER NOT DIE FROM BEING HIT BY A CAR

please submit a comment on the NHTSA proposal to implement pedestrian safety test requirements for cars and trucks!!

It would finally make manufacturers design vehicles that are safer for pedestrians and cyclists, instead of the massive wall-of-steel front ends that are excessively deadly for no reason. Europe already has rules like this, but unless we comment in approval, they're not going to do anything to halt the increasing pedestrian deaths in our country.

And please share, even if you don't live in the US!

[ladymordecai]

Tiny baby python got confused about what sort of mouse to catch.

[ladymordecai]

Attention Pennsylvania voters!

Senator Bob Casey’s race is now at a margin of 0.53%.

An automatic recount in PA is triggered with a margin of 0.5%. That’s a difference of 0.03% or a little over 2,000 votes. We need to make sure every ballot is counted here, and there’s thousands of uncounted ballots right now due to voter error.

Did you mail in a ballot? Check to see it was accepted here:

If it says anything other than accepted/counted/etc, your ballot needs your attention. A mistake in filling it out means that your ballot will not count unless you “cure” it. Check your county’s curing policies:

See full instructions for curing by county here.

You have until November 12 to cure your ballot in PA.

Do you know someone who mailed in a PA ballot? Please pass these links on to them. You may be the difference between their vote counting or not in a super close race.

Everyone else, you can help PA voters cure their ballots. If you live in Pennsylvania, you can help canvass in your county (see links in this thread). If you are in another state, you can sign up to call voters and help them cure by phone.

Want to help another state? Sign up for a shift through November 19.

[ladymordecai]

advice from dad

So, my Dad is a 73-year-old Mexican man who has lived here since he was 16. He was in Watts during the riots in 1965; in 1992, when I was in LA, as soon as the Rodney King verdict was announced, he called me, told me what was coming, told me how to stay safe. He has survived horrible living conditions, being kidnapped, physical abuse, prejudice, discrimination. He learned English, got his green card, pays his taxes, works hard, and has three daughters. 

I thought he would be devastated today.

But he wasn’t.

He saw that I was sad and angry, and he asked me why, pretending he had no idea. I almost started crying. And then he said, “no se me chicopale.” 

It means, don’t lose heart. Don’t give in to despair.

I asked him why he wasn’t upset.

He said, basically, “The world has always been this way. There are always people who are afraid, who are racist, who are awful. This is not new. And it will never go away. He won. We can’t do anything about that. All we can do is what we can do. Fight for what matters to us. Take care of each other. And don’t lose heart. And here, I got these unsalted cashews for you and a bag of jamaica drink mix and can you show me how to use the new washing machine because it’s not working.”

And, for reasons I can’t articulate, I feel a little better. 

[ladymordecai]

Here’s a video so you can hear the water and the thrushes. I took it for you because you couldn’t be there. <3

[ladymordecai]

IF YOU LIVE IN THE US AND WOULD RATHER NOT DIE FROM BEING HIT BY A CAR

please submit a comment on the NHTSA proposal to implement pedestrian safety test requirements for cars and trucks!!

It would finally make manufacturers design vehicles that are safer for pedestrians and cyclists, instead of the massive wall-of-steel front ends that are excessively deadly for no reason. Europe already has rules like this, but unless we comment in approval, they're not going to do anything to halt the increasing pedestrian deaths in our country.

And please share, even if you don't live in the US!

[ladymordecai]

If you're trans and you don't have a passport, get one. right now. not in a month, not in a week, get started on it today.

[ladymordecai]

So some people in PA got an email TODAY saying that their vote might not have been counted. If that's true, then they actually fucking cheated.

Link here, though Musk will probably try to delete it, so here's the images directly:

[ladymordecai]

I believe everything should be offline, I believe that every time something that is not your internet browser (and I'm being generous here) should have a big red alert that says THIS PIECE OF SHIT PROGRAM NEEDS TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET AND REQUESTS YOUR CONSENT TO DO THIS SPECIFIC THING, and you had to touch a big red button and it would disconnect as soon as you close it.

[ladymordecai]

where is the article about the guy who breaks up traffic jams as a hobby. bad googling only gets me the guy who faked a traffic jam with 99 phones in a wagon

[ladymordecai]

Macbeth and Saruman better watch the fuck out.

[ladymordecai]

[ladymordecai]

Via Bluesky: attn Nevada voters!

”In Nevada, the GOP is succeeding in throwing out the votes of thousands of young people. If you're in Clark or Washoe county, answer your phone tonight. It may be election officials, calling to cure the defect in your mailed-in ballot.”

[ladymordecai]

Listening to Newsies to cope today, like you do.

now that the choices are clear / now that tomorrow is here / watch how the mighty will fall

for once and for all

let's fucking goooooo

[ladymordecai]

Okay but for real if you live in Maricopa County and voted by mail PLEASE go check the county recorder's webpage to make sure you didn't get flagged for a signature issue!! Apparently something like 12k are still waiting to be cured and we need every single one of those votes to send Kari Lake back to the fucking shadow realm where she belongs and also REPLACE Kyrsten Sinema with someone who's not going to do a stupid little curtsy while they tank progressive policies in the Senate!!

THERE IS STILL TIME PLS CHECK IF YOU LIVE THERE!!! Also maybe check even if you don't live there, I made sure mine got counted in Pima, we can make Blue Arizona happen!!! Check your ballots!!!!