TGIF! [DOT 8/11/24]

8/11/24 MegMegMcGee 27

Sorry guys I was just sooo tired last night. Whatcha got for me?!?

avataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravataravatar

27 Comments

  1. Israeli football fans chant racist genocidal shit and destroy private property (climbing buildings to tear down Palestinian flags) then get beat up by locals in Amsterdam… But all the news agencies run with “antisemitism” as their headlines so I won’t post any links.

    • yep…even here the main news channels are going with anti semitism and letting israel play the victim about it

      is more than a little bit sus considering here of all places….it shouldnt have been too hard to get the full picture

      theres something funny about having wilders and his ilk condemn antisemitism tho…..

  2. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-hooligans-provoke-clashes-amsterdam-after-chanting-anti-palestinian-slogans

     

     

     

    It’s so disgusting, I had to click on a link to get to this story. The link was in a paragraph that minimized the role the Israeli Hooligans played in starting everything.

     

    The world is fucked, propaganda rules.

  3. Nick Fuentes “your body, my choice.”

  4. …I…have a bunch of running around to do…but before I commence my headless chicken routine…I don’t know if this is a thing anyone needs to hear…much less if hearing it from me is in any way going to “do it for you”…but…I have a friend who’s one of the lovliest people you can imagine…& they were scared the first time this happened that if they travelled overseas people would spit at them in the street for being an american…&…I think maybe they did need to hear it…so here goes?

    …this bites…that’s not really in question…& while I could…& very possibly will not be able to help myself from at some point…go into the sort of detail that suggests I might have an unhealthy pre-occupation with the hows & whys of the operating mechanism…another thing that’s beyond what I’d call reasonable doubt is the extent to which many of the people who just voted for everything that’s going to happen as a result…didn’t

    …they literally do not comprehend what they voted for…which…is tricky if you’re the sort of person who thinks the phrase “they know not what they do” belongs in the same sentence as “forgive them”

    …it is…disheartening…that what is effectively a zombie rather than a live political project can be induced to clear a bar that one attempting to be the lesser evil couldn’t…but it’s a zombie because it has become severed from even the semblance of a heart…much less a soul…& for the time being america has lost its mind

    …if there is any hope for it to recover as a body politic it is surely imperative…possibly even above all else…that it not lose its heart & soul…because when this goes badly for all those people who voted for things to get better for them…the only way there’s something to provide an alternative that stands in contrast is if those provide it…& that happens if decent people keep being decent people

    …you didn’t do this…you didn’t even let it happen…you just…couldn’t stop it happening…& there’s no shortage of people all over the world who know that feeling only too well

    …anyway…apologies for taking it upon myself…but…I would have felt bad assuming it was understood by the one person I know…so…I’d feel bad if turned out that went for any of you…it’s not meant to sound condescending or anything?

    • I can not truly express my appreciation for this site and everyone on it.

       

      Times like this shine a light on how meaningful good people really are.

      Thank you all.

       

       

      • Along these lines, and I know I’m asking a lot, but I’ve read a couple articles about dealing with our grief and one recommendation was to talk about it.

        They actually recommended talking over digital interaction because you’re not putting things out there that can be used against you. Which is itself terrifying but realistic, I think. Basically group therapy type stuff.

        Which brings me back to our Zoom call. Can we do another? I don’t know the financial ramifications but if I need to figure it out and spearhead it, I will. Just say so. It’s not fair to put more on Meg.

        I know I’m exhausted and not at my sharpest due to our fabulous medical system but I’m scared. I’m just gonna own that.

        And also thanks to miluly’s excellent post the other day I’m going to look for some kind of volunteer activity. I’m sick of hearing that there’s nothing I can do. I’ve gotta find somebody I can help or I’m gonna lose my mind.

        • …I might find it tricky to attend if that manages to happen in the next week…roughly speaking…but I think as a plan it sounds like a good one

          …similarly…I might not be the most useful person…or whatever…but…if you think of anything I could do…let’s just say I very much feel you on that last part

          …I feel like on the one hand I’m wandering around a bit dazed…like every so often something is just invisibly punching me in the head…but also like I have a lot of gotta-do-something spinning up with no place to put it down…so…I imagine that’s maybe a sketch compared to a full photo-realistic image with all the shading…& if that’s even in the ballpark I’d be only too happy to help try to take the edge off?

        • I’d be happy to pitch in or bankroll the zoom call (depending on how much it costs…how much is the going rate? Insert Lucille Bluth banana gif). I won’t be attending tho. I’m too shy to talk amongst all you smarties even though you’re all really kind!

          • Don’t write yourself off, though. We’d love to have you!

        • Skype might also be an option if we can’t figure out the pricing logic for zoom

          • i didnt even know zooms cost money……

              • ive never been on a zoom

                i dislike cameras…my work wont let me work from home…coz i cant….and fuck work meetings….ive only heard about zooms

                …

                now zoomies…i know about those

            • I have a paid version of Zoom and it doesn’t cost me anything to host a call. Just LMK when you want to do it!

              • Another option–the one *we* use at work all the time–is Google Meet.

                I’m not sure of the “behind the code” stuff on it (Cassandra-the-Prophet/ @MyopicProphet, would you know?)…

                But I know–aside from it being Google–which some folks reasonably have qualms about–it’s fairly easy to set up meetings add ’em to a calendar, and it’s pretty secure.

                Because when all the stuff was going down with Zoom, and people were “crashing” them, qite a few school districts switched over to Google Meet, because you *did* need those specifically emailed/calendar invites to join the meeting.

                • @miluly i’m not familiar with google meet but i can look into it. as far as i know zoom doesn’t cost @megmegmcgee anything because they have to have it?

        • Awww, Thanks, @BryanLSplinter!💖

          (And RIP, too!💖 The thing i really like about that Church, is that it doesn’t *feel* “Church-y”–it feels like the sort of “small town community” type of place i grew up in, back home.)

          Ngl, the *really* fucked up thing is that, “Shit Hitting the Fan”-mode and “Catastrophizing/ Chaos-Time-Contingency-Planning!” is my *own* personal “childhood-ACES-based” calm time.🫠

          Once the election results came back snake-eyes?

          My brain & body finally relaxed and let go of the damn stess I’ve had for the last few *weeks*–because i *know* now, that we might very well end up seeing “worst case scenario (*Now with MORE worst!*) annnnnd i no longer need to operate in “nebulous worry-mode.”

          I can get into the “contingencies, backup plans, and possible scenario preparedness & logistics planning,” where *my* brain operates easily when times are stressful, and I can burn off some of my excess mental energy😖🙃🫠

          It *sucks* to realize that “the fucked up times” are the times *you’re* most comfortable in–and YES, I’m working on that shit with my therapist!!!😉😂🤣

          But I *do* have the advantage of allllll that childhood trauma that I didn’t even *realize* was trauma.

          And that, plus my ADHD-addled-brain(🤣), hep me to slip into hyperfocused & *calm*, in stressful times like this, pretty easily.

          I DO have to say though, with apologies to all, I fucking HATE NOVEMBERS!!!

          I LITERALLY have *more* than a  decade now, of seriously shit things occurring in the month of November!😉😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

    • Rip, we suck at actually educating folks, and have for the last few years decades!!!

      Part of it is the “teach to the test” shit that got started in the Clinton/Bush-ish era (it was i thiiiink around ’95 or ’96–it was juuuust after i graduated, so I can’t exactly recall which of my cousins was the first who had to take those tests)…

      But the thing is?

      When that crap started, we started to focus on STEM–then we dumbed shit down, so that kids could *get* all the info that they’d need for the standardized tests, we started doing the dumbass “Taking away Recess” in order to get “more classroom time!,” annnnnd Lisa Murphy explains it all *far* better here;

      This one’s pretty good, too;

      Thing is, in order to “teach” that STEM/STEAM/STREAM/ALPHABETSOUP? We ended up taking away all the things that make learning fun, engaging, etc.

      That stuff started almost 30 years ago–we started focusing on “Math & Reading Scores,” and forgot to teach kids how to be curious, how to learn, and how to think critically–and sort fact from CRAP.

      The voters who “knew not,” really *didn’t* and they don’t!

      And they, their families, and ALL of us are gonna pay…

      Thing is?

      There’s also already a path to follow–so you can *bet* that a looooot of us are going to be doing a metric shit-ton of “Remedial Educating” (and, frankly, teaching *parents* how to better help their kids learn!

      The names you’re gonna want to look up are Loris Malaguzzi, and Reggio Emilia Italy;

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach

      https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/01/reggio-emilia-from-postwar-italy-to-nycs-toniest-preschools/267204/

      https://thevoiceofearlychildhood.com/early-childhood-pioneers/loris-malaguzzi/#:~:text=Who%20is%20Loris%20Malaguzzi,%2C%20creativity%2C%20and%20social%20interaction.

      https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/loris-malaguzzi/

      Malaguzzi was an educator after WW2–he along *with* the parents in the decimated Reggio Emilia area of Italy created an entire *system* of learning, because they wanted their children to be ABLE to resist Fascism in the future.

      It’s not traditional, Western, Rote Learning.

      It’s Child-led, and Adult Guided–not a “top down, teacher instructing” with kids just sitting there.

      My childhood education wasn’t a real Reggio one.

      But, Reggio definitely had some *influence* on it–because by the 70’s & 80’s, when my teachers were in school, what was going on in Reggio Emilia was starting to get studied a lot, and it was getting understood to be a *really* good way to get kids to turn into good, curious, lifelong learners, with solid problem-solving & critical thinking skills.

      Thing is?

      Reggio is a LOT of work and has a *ton* of intentionality that at a “surface level,” literally looks like a teacher “isn’t teaching.”

      And, it isn’t really “good” for giving those “School Test Ranking Scores,” because if you’re *doing it correctly,* you’re teaching to the kids’ interests, and incorporating the grammar, letter knowledge, math, science, number literacy, problem-solving, etc into the “exploration” of the ideas the kids want to learn about–so each exploration will be different, kids don’t really learn things in a “linear” way, it’s more of a “spider-web of connected ideas,” or–to use an analogy from The Good Place–the “Educational Version” of a Jeremy Bearimy timeline–looping around, circling back, crossing over again, etc.

      You have to be *really* intentional in Reggio–and it’s NOT a simple, straightforward way to teach.

      And because it *is* so incredibly “Exploration of Ideas”-based, there *aren’t* ways to do any standardized tests to assess the students (or teachers!)…

      But, because it *does* teach the kids those real-world, real-life, *skills,* from the time they’re little?

      It gives ’em some reallllly solid “How to be a good human” skills😉💖

      And if the *worst* happens, and they cut & gut Education like I worry they might?

      Going Reggio-Style would be one of the best ways we can start building a society that can beat back the Fash, and be a helluvalot better than we’ve been.💝

       

  5. https://www.salon.com/2024/11/08/americas-political-discordance-the-want-progressivism/

    https://www.salon.com/2024/11/08/elon-musks-biggest-campaign-contribution-to-trump-weaponizing-the-first-amendment/

    https://www.salon.com/2024/11/07/don-man-on-the-street/

    Insightful bunch of articles on Salon about the role of mis/dis/un-information.

    • I have always joked that half of the US is dumber than the other half when in reality it’s now two thirds of the US are dumber than the other third and I have to face the fact that the joke is now on me.

  6. Mom is still hanging on. Visited her this morning after night shift. I saw dad too. He’s okay and I told him family is coming to visit him next week (not that he’ll remember.)

    Signed the DNR papers this week. Emotionally saddest thing I’ve ever written since my CISC451 exam, but unlike Advanced Graphics this actually meant something. I realize that my mom’s personality, emotions and memories are already gone. It’s just her husk remaining and there is no point in keeping her alive with her brain gone from dementia.

    Talked with one of the nurses who is actually doing the same thing I am (waiting for death to arrive for a sick relative.) We understood how things felt. Shared empathy and trauma.

    Been busy making arrangements and prepping for mom and dad’s home renos all week and I’m pretty damn exhausted.

    • Sorry Manchu, Dementia fuckin’ sucks, and i wish you guys didn’t have to go the “hard mode” version!💔

      And that DNR stuff absolutely kicks you in the gut (and the heart!), doesn’t it?

      You *are* making the right call, though–it’s the most ethical thing, too, fwiw (we talked about similar situations when I took my Medical Ethics class💖), because it’s the least harmful for her, as her body’s circuits & systems continue to “short out” like a faulty electrical system.

      Interwebs hugs, if want ’em–and I’ll be thinking as many good thoughts up/over your guys’ way, in the coming days💖💗💝

       

Leave a Reply