#or up to Pennsylvania

[mass-convergence]

Denver trip:

Got tea yesterday at an amazing place in Boulder. I am bummed I didn’t get that transfer … especially since I feel a lot safer being visibly queer here.

My friend is now watching The Dragon Prince with me and we now have another Amaya fan.

I have made friends with so many dogs

I’m going snowshoeing today for the first time ever.

[suntails]

growing up!

[geopsych]

From last October. The pods were still hanging on the honey locust tree because the large Ice Age mammals that used to eat them and spread the seeds just never come around anymore. I read but haven’t tested it that the stuff inside the pods around the seeds is sweeter than honey (not recommended b/c I don’t know if it’s toxic). Somebody back in the Pleistocene had a sweet tooth and it seems to be mastodons. Remnants of these pods have been found in their manure. And the huge thorns and spines at a certain height on the trees? They were to discourage mastodons from pushing the whole tree over to get the pods just out of reach! Now you know.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

The Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

[cornbelt]

[emilianadarling]

The Pennsylvania Senate race is still too close to call.

While it's unlikely to affect the presidential race, I hope Americans are aware that the NBC decision desk (pictured above) and New York Times decision desk have not yet called the Pennsylvania Senate race between McCormick (R) and Casey (D), deeming it still too close to call. The AP called the race for McCormick on Wednesday November 7, citing a 30,000 vote margin between the candidates with an estimated 91,000 votes remaining to count -- the rationale being that there were not enough potential votes left in areas favouring Casey to make a difference.

Since then:

The number of estimated votes left to count has been updated by PA from 91,000 to at least 100,000 per a Thursday announcement from the PA Secretary of State, including provisional, military, overseas, and some Election Day votes;

McCormick has filed multiple lawsuits in an attempt to prevent or limit continue counting of provisional ballots, some of which have now by Friday been withdrawn or dismissed;

Efforts from a group called "PA Fair Elections" to challenge 4,000 mail-in ballots (mostly from overseas or military voters) have now all been withdrawn or dismissed. A number of these challenges had previously been flagged both by the media and by individual voters. (Screenshots of these challenge emails being circulated on tumblr alongside accusations of 'cheating' -- in the end these challenges were made in bad faith, but technically made and ultimately dismissed through legal means.)

This DOES NOT MEAN that the Pennsylvania Senate seat is in any way guaranteed to flip once all the remaining votes are counted. The race is extremely close -- enough so that the AP is confident standing by its call.

What it DOES mean is that the votes have not yet finished being counted, and that it is not yet truly known who will have the most votes in the end. Although McCormick has already declared victory, Casey (in my view very reasonably and wisely) has not yet conceded and is calling for all votes to be counted.

By Pennsylvania law, a recount must occur if the race is within 0.5%. It's looking likely that this will occur. While recounts rarely change the outcome unless results are truly within the main of a handful of votes, they are an important tool for ensuring confidence in the final results.

I know that people are grieving and demoralized right now, but these tight margin races are CRITICAL for determining how large the margin of victory will be for Democrats to flip the Senate in future elections. (Assuming future electing aren't subverted or dismantled somehow by a second Trump administration, but we have to hold out hope for institutional residence here.) The outcome of this and other right Senate and House races may have enormous consequences in a few years, and it would be agonizing to look back and realize that the window of opportunity to ensure a fair outcome had been squandered.

So -- what can Americans do?

Send a note to Bob Casey and his team via his campaign website in support of his efforts to ensure all votes are counted (particularly given the legal challenges from the Republican candidate and Republican-aligned groups) and decision to wait to concede until all votes are counted. The man is getting dragged in Conservative media in particular for 'refusing to concede'; add your voice to the people validating that decision as both reasonable and moral.

Keep an eye on this race as the counting (and potential recounting) proceeds, including any further legal challenges attempting to prevent or limit the counting of all ballots. Regardless of the outcome, all eligible votes MUST BE COUNTED. To do otherwise would be both subversion if democracy and an stoicism legal precedent for future elections.

Watch for other legal challenges, particularly in battleground states or right races, seeking to disqualify or prevent the counting of ballots. Look for credible sources, especially local ones. Make noise about them with cited sources if you think there is a risk they may be missed. Notify groups like Democracy Docket or the American Civil Liberties Union if you have concerns. Shared truth and shared confidence in the legitimacy of election results -- including that all eligible votes are counted -- is essential for democracy to function.

Push back on claims that the election results are fully known or finalized. With multiple House races still undecided and a few razor-thin margin Senate races with ballots remaining to be counted, those kind of statements are simply not true. And state-level race are inherently more likely to not make it onto people's radar than the presidential race if candidates try to make it so certain ballots aren't counted or contesting the results if a tight race flips.

There is only a very small window post-election to ensure things like outstanding legal challenges over whether certain ballots can be included in the count are resolved. Please stay alert and do not let that window close without doing all you can to ensure every eligible ballot is counted -- particularly in those tight, tight down-ballot races. 🙏

Note: This post should be accurate as of the end of day on Friday, November 9. Once the results of the PA Senate race are known and truly final, I will update this pay with the results.

UPDATE: As of November 22, Bob Casey (D) has now officially conceded the Pennsylvania Senate race to Dave McCormick (R).

:(

[xxplastic-cubexx]

charles saying a total of Four Words and storm immediately assuming he's gonna read travis' mind has me in stitches im ngl

[Storm (2023) #2: "Punked"]

[odinsblog]

[2000ghosts]

february 6, 2010

[20th-century-railroading]

Amtrak #911

Former Penn Central GG1 911 @ Paoli, PA. Photographer unknown. (Oct 1973)

[idekwtf-is-happening]

[fandomgeeknerd]

FRUIT LORE X WTTT IS HERE

next i'mma do flower lore

[geopsych]

Those red maples across what is usually a pond are always the first to go. But the drought is so bad out there that I saw some trees just turning brown and dropping their leaves.

[extra-stout-stories]

Ok, I keep thinking about your NYC/tri-state feedist tags from the other day, like, there could be a whole road trip challenge series in the North American northeast: 

Maine to Eastern Mass to Connecticut to argue about whose lobster rolls are right 

Montréal to upstate NY to NYC arguing about whose bagels are right

Driving from Boston to Philly through grinder, hero, wedge, and hoagie territories to argue about each other's long sandwiches 

Hudson valley/NYC/Jersey deli crawl to argue about which deli does rolls and/or breakfast sandwiches right

(Personally opting out but) obligatory Massachusetts Dunkin stuffing (optional crawl to hit the 4 Dunkins on a 20-minute stretch of road)

Ahh, this is great!

Upstate NY food tour: get buffalo wings and beef on weck in Buffalo, a garbage plate in Rochester, chicken riggies in Utica, spiedies in Binghamton...

Queens international food challenge: get as many different regional variations on Chinese or South Asian or Latin American food as you can handle in one day while minimizing the amount of time spent walking or on the subway

Pick a town in the NYC suburbs and eat at ALL of its neighborhood Italian restaurants

Stewart's crawl: stop at every Stewart's you pass and get a thick shake at each one, see how far you can go before you tap out

[dec0ra-grl]

WHY I THINK DUTCH VAN DER LINDE GREW UP AMISH

[no that isnt a joke, this is a genuine theory my ASD cooked up]

[includes sources]

⊱ ─── {⋆⌘⋆} ─── ⊰

POINT 1; Origin

Dutch Van Der Linde is PA Dutch, “Dutch was born in 1855 to a woman of English descent named Greta and a father of Dutch ancestry somewhere near Philadelphia.”

a large majority of PA Dutch people live in Amish country, and Amish people tend to be PA Dutch. (most, not all. As a PA Dutch person, this is not a catch all statement)

Counties near Phillie include Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks. But Chester is widely considered the ‘small town’ of phillie, being located in its metropolitan area. So it's safe to assume he was from this county. (Also the other areas take much more time to get to Phillie in car, let alone on a horse and buggy) 

But what's also located in that area is Amish settlements.  Ones that have been around since the 1700s no less. Its possible given how he described his area of origin mixed with being PA Dutch that he lived in one of the settlements.

POINT 2; Childhood

Dutch describes his childhood as being strict,  “he left his home as he was a disobedient child and rarely got along with his mother”

Amish communities tend to have stricter and detached rules which could explain his desire to break the norm throughout the story. Just having a bit of a strict mom alone probably wouldn't cause such an explosive reaction on Dutch's side, but if his entire childhood was built off these values it could trigger a domino effect more similar to Dutch.

He left home at age 15-16, which is right around the age a child participates in Rumspringa. It's a tradition where the child gets to leave home for a year or two to participate in ‘forbidden’ activities and get to see the modern world. He didn't need to wait until he was older, it was the 1800s, but his desire to wait could point to him growing up in a community where Rumspringa was a tradition. (note that he also stated he left home, not runaway, despite being a child at the time. But this could just be a switch up of words)

POINT 3; Adulthood

In his adulthood, he seemed to completely cut ties with his family. Mentioning little about them in the game and even delaying the news of his mothers death. “his mother, who died in 1881 and was buried in Blackwater, although Dutch only found out several years later from an uncle of his.”

When someone leaves the Amish community, they go through shunning, meaning they will cut  contact with the community and family. The rules vary, and sometimes it's not complete isolation, but Dutch stated his dislike for his family multiple times which could explain his delay on learning of his mothers death and lack of mention of his family.

Going off the idea that he is shunned, his lack of supportive family could explain his desire for a found family. Amish communities are known for being tight-knit, which could also explain his experience with starting a sense of community.

THEORY FLAWS

One glaring flaw in this theory is his dad and his death. “His father fought for the Union in the American Civil War and died in a battle that occurred in Pennsylvania”

A big part of Amish beliefs is their pacifist views, which made them avoid the civil war. In fact, in PA they were exempt from the war. If they couldn't get exempt, there were fees they could pay to get exempted.

But it didn't make it impossible to end up on the battlefield. The Amish seemed to have mixed feelings about slavery, though a popular consensus was that it was bad and their religion did not agree with it.

Given how Dutch talked about his father in a better light than his mom, it's possible he got his mannerisms from his dad. And what's Dutch known for? His strong opinions and sense of justice. So if his dads anything like him, it would make sense for him to go into battle to fight for what he thinks goes against his beliefs, even if fighting contradicts his beliefs as well.

⊱ ─── {⋆⌘⋆} ─── ⊰

Thank you for listening to me be crazy, and thank you to the people who requested to hear my insanity ♥

[unable2sitstill]

i literally yelled my voice hoarse playing dokapon kingdom. i get the feeling this is a common occurrence with this game...