I'm lacking the energy to fill in between bullet points so this is going to be a bare bones kind of thing. I'm thinking about strikes. I'm thinking about sustaining them. I'm thinking about how there's already an established logistical model for food distribution outside of the capitalist framework (in the form of operations like Food Not Bombs, as the first example that comes to mind) but I'm not aware of anything like that for food production. I'm thinking about how my time in the infantry taught me that supply lines are worthless without supplies.

1. A strike is far more likely to succeed if it's backed up by a strike fund.

2. A general strike will not have that critical component available if carried out in our current social order.

3. A federation of mutual aid networks can function as a de facto strike fund.

Therefore 4. I need to radicalize and organize with other "small farmers" in my area to lay a foundation for what we called "sustainment of force" operations when I was a grunt.

There's a lot more to it that I hope to be able to add to this but for now this is a placeholder.

I was just thinking about this post again while tending our ducks yesterday. My thoughts wander more broadly than I am usually able to type out and I sometimes miss doing my podcast because it's so much easier to just say what I'm thinking. It's been more than a decade since I last recorded anything formally, though, and the last thing this world needs is another podcast. But it's tempting. I'll probably just switch the focus of our farm's blog here in the meantime to be more explicitly in line with our "politics" until I decide to resuscitate my podcasting skills.

My partner and I love raising and tending plants and animals simply for the sake of doing so. I don't have the vocabulary to explain the reasons beyond summarizing it as just that we love to be around life and natural growth. Naturally that led us to the companionship of the birds and plants who we live with.

We measure how well we're doing by how much we can give away to others after meeting our own needs, rather than by how much we have compared to others. Still, capitalism coerces our compliance so we are forced to define what we do as a farm. We sell the excess eggs and produce that we and our loved ones can't make use of in order to reduce the coerced monetary costs of doing what we love. (Unless you really enjoy working on well pumps and don't have bills to pay I'm going to have to pay you with money when I need your skills.)

In the context of a general strike, or in the post-currency world, we could shift the direction of our unneeded resources (eggs, dairy, produce, etc.) from the market to the "strike fund" or general distribution. Instead of CSA boxes going to subscribers, for example, they'd go to a nearby Food Not Bombs-style feeding operation supporting the strike. I'm dreaming of a network of "general strike farms/gardens" partnered with, or as a component of such feeding operations.

went to the gallery today but the best art I saw today was on this electrical box outside

So many Americans seem to think that there is no society, and morality is literal magic. Like, people don't make choices based on a complex interlocking web of desires and institutions and material conditions. The world is good guys and bad guys. Deviance is a literal magical poison that disrupts the fabric of reality. If enough young women dye their hair blue, the crops will fail.

Infinity Axolotl

The final blursed being in my Axolotl series! This has been so much fun and quite different from my usual subjects. Maybe some other cursed inspirations will strike me again the future~

The other 2 from the collection

youre so fuckign right

this is honestly so endearing

Source on the Morgan Library exhibit:

1990 -  When developers and the town of Oka wanted to start building a golf course on stolen land that belonged to them and that contained a sacred grove and a burial ground, the Mohawk tribe around Kanehsatake, Quebec, rose up and occupied the area. 

Ultimately the stand-off with the police and the Canadian army lasted 78 days before the warriors gave up the occupation. The building of the golf course was cancelled. 

From this great documentary: [Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance]

Kaniehtiio Horn has a podcast called Coffee with my Ma where she talks in-depth about her family’s activism, including their presence at the Oka protest, where her sister Waneek was bayoneted through the chest while she was carrying Kaniehtiio.

"Rationalism" is up there with "Objectivism" in terms of "definitionally funny things to call your own belief system".

"Yeah man I've been doing some thinking and philosophy and I've come up with a framework called Being Right"

outfit ideas 1 out of ?????? : who let the dogs out

manta ray

decked out

Like I say my dad was bi bc people will piss their pants if they don’t understand things in plain terms but in reality he was out as gay till mid 20s and then showed up with a girlfriend one day and refused to elaborate and still only liked men other than her and this being the backstory to my parents explains quite literally everything about me honestly also power move

As someone pointed out in the replies im south Asian like I sign on here and watch u flops complain about polyamorous people being icky meanwhile my parents are a woman who dodged arranged marriage and got disowned and a bisexualgay man who both did whatever they wanted at all times. And u expect me to care when you cry about the sanctity of monogamy and commitment

@cipheramnesia: Heard this interview on the radio, and thought: "If she doesn't know about this film already, I bet she'd like to."

Oh I have been nigh unto bombarded with advertisements for this. It looks fun, and I'll likely watch it with my wife because they are a huge Richard E Grant fan, but I'm more excited about other films (some of which are already out but I haven't seen because money) like Oddity, Sinners, The Ugly Stepsister, and a dozen cheap exploitation films that look so terrible that I'm sure one of them has to be good. I try not to pre-judge movies, but Death of a Unicorn already has some stuff that puts me on the "skeptical but I want to have fun so I'm going to lean into whatever it's giving me" frame of mind. Like, the VFX look extremely weird because it's CGI enhanced practical effects - the newest uncanny valley of CGI which seems to work in the right hands but here it only makes the practical work look more openly unreal. The majority of the main characters being white and wealthy also usually gives me some hesitation, in this case because the advertising leans heavily on promoting the satirical elements of the wealthy exploiting something beautiful to be consumed for profit and personal longevity, but also leand on a child parent / child has to save everyone through her innate honesty plot. And to me that gives of the vibes of something that is utilizing the widespread economic inequality and class conflict in the USA less as a foundation for real criticism, and more as a marketing and story gimmick to get people to watch it and engage with it enough that they don't notice when it shifts to being exclusively about the one Important Protagonist saving the day because she's important, while leaving the economic can of worms it opened up for engagement purposes unresolved. Like it can do all that and be a fun, OK movie, and I'm fully ready to get pulled in a whole other direction, I just am reluctant to get as excited about it. Also I suddenly find myself wondering how much of it was cribbed from Attack The Block, where a small group kills a baby creature of unnatural origin but as a result they end up facing a fight to save themselves and their home when the much larger, more menacing, and nearly totally black adults show up in retaliation - while also bringing up themes of underlying class inequality and a fair amount of humor and plot points revolving around drugs. And that's not even getting in on my vibes based feelings about A24, where I notice how much of their quality is attributed to them as a production company rather than for example the people working in and on the film. It's great they can use their clout as a company to promote unusual films. But there's an underlying brand loyalty that speaks to a lack of judgment - as if being a "fan of A24 films" is in some way uniquely separate or entirely dissimilar to being a fan of Disney films. Neither one is beneficial, and the way A24 is talked about has me wondering how much critical thinking is applied to those films. This doesn't take anything away from the many, many good films they've produced, but it adds to my skeptical approach the more I hear A24 talked about like it's an individual artist rather than a for-profit business.

Anyway, it's fine. It's all fine. The unicorn movie will be fine. Evil unicorns funny. Everyone laugh.

Actually, everyone who hasn't seen it needs to go back now, right now, and watch Attack The Block to see just how good a job a low budget movie from 2011 does with CGI assisted effects, and also weaving a class inequality story into an exciting scifi monster movie.

@cipheramnesia: Heard this interview on the radio, and thought: "If she doesn't know about this film already, I bet she'd like to."

Oh I have been nigh unto bombarded with advertisements for this. It looks fun, and I'll likely watch it with my wife because they are a huge Richard E Grant fan, but I'm more excited about other films (some of which are already out but I haven't seen because money) like Oddity, Sinners, The Ugly Stepsister, and a dozen cheap exploitation films that look so terrible that I'm sure one of them has to be good. I try not to pre-judge movies, but Death of a Unicorn already has some stuff that puts me on the "skeptical but I want to have fun so I'm going to lean into whatever it's giving me" frame of mind. Like, the VFX look extremely weird because it's CGI enhanced practical effects - the newest uncanny valley of CGI which seems to work in the right hands but here it only makes the practical work look more openly unreal. The majority of the main characters being white and wealthy also usually gives me some hesitation, in this case because the advertising leans heavily on promoting the satirical elements of the wealthy exploiting something beautiful to be consumed for profit and personal longevity, but also leand on a child parent / child has to save everyone through her innate honesty plot. And to me that gives of the vibes of something that is utilizing the widespread economic inequality and class conflict in the USA less as a foundation for real criticism, and more as a marketing and story gimmick to get people to watch it and engage with it enough that they don't notice when it shifts to being exclusively about the one Important Protagonist saving the day because she's important, while leaving the economic can of worms it opened up for engagement purposes unresolved. Like it can do all that and be a fun, OK movie, and I'm fully ready to get pulled in a whole other direction, I just am reluctant to get as excited about it. Also I suddenly find myself wondering how much of it was cribbed from Attack The Block, where a small group kills a baby creature of unnatural origin but as a result they end up facing a fight to save themselves and their home when the much larger, more menacing, and nearly totally black adults show up in retaliation - while also bringing up themes of underlying class inequality and a fair amount of humor and plot points revolving around drugs. And that's not even getting in on my vibes based feelings about A24, where I notice how much of their quality is attributed to them as a production company rather than for example the people working in and on the film. It's great they can use their clout as a company to promote unusual films. But there's an underlying brand loyalty that speaks to a lack of judgment - as if being a "fan of A24 films" is in some way uniquely separate or entirely dissimilar to being a fan of Disney films. Neither one is beneficial, and the way A24 is talked about has me wondering how much critical thinking is applied to those films. This doesn't take anything away from the many, many good films they've produced, but it adds to my skeptical approach the more I hear A24 talked about like it's an individual artist rather than a for-profit business.

Anyway, it's fine. It's all fine. The unicorn movie will be fine. Evil unicorns funny. Everyone laugh.