did you guys know that the robot genre of science fiction sprung up as a critique of the way in which industrialization reduced workers to taking up monotonous, unskilled factory jobs in order to earn profit, jobs which in turn alienated them from their own humanity? did you know that the theory of the alienation of the self under capitalistic mode of production is a core principle of marxism? did you know that robot itself comes from a czech playwright who, for a science fiction play, coined the word as a derivative of the czech term robota, meaning forced labor? did you know that the robot genre is rooted in anti-capitalist sentiment?
5 minutes into the fabric store: wow the world has so much to offer and so many possible wonderful things to make
10 minutes into the fabric store: everything around me will continue to pollute the earth long after humans are gone and this ring of plastic minion beads will see the new pangea
Donald Trump told lie after lie in his speech on election night in 2020. With the former president running again in 2024, here are 12 possib
Useful article from CNN on election-night misinformation.
Key takeaway is that pretty much whatever happens, Trump will claim it's evidence that the election is being rigged against him.
Some additional things to keep in mind--particularly if you haven't been through many of these before:
The winner may or may not be projected on election night. How long it takes depends on a bunch of factors, having to do with the logistics of ballot-counting and how the statistical analysis comes along. Getting a projected winner by midnight and the count taking several days are both well within the range of normal, and neither one suggests that anything nefarious is happening.
Counting of votes always continues for several days after the election, until every vote has been counted. This happens regardless of whether or not the media have "called" a winner, or a candidate has conceded.
Media outlets project election winners based on the data that has come in and their statistical models--they do not "declare" or "decide" who won. The major outlets are very motivated to avoid an incorrect projection*, so if they make a call, it's because they're really sure they have enough information to accurately predict the outcome of the final count.
Usually, when this happens, all of the major media outlets are making the same projection around the same time--within the same hour, at least, and often in the same 10 minutes or so. If there's an outlier, there's a good chance they're either guessing or propagandizing.
Candidates do not get to call the race in their own favor. There's a decent chance Trump will try, but also it's also normal and expected for both campaigns to talk like they're expecting to win; e.g. introducing their candidate as "the next President of the United States" when appearing before supporters at events. (My guess is that if he does try, the mainstream media outlets will simply sanewash it as typical election-night bravado, which is actually fine.)
The only thing that means anything, coming from a candidate/campaign, is a concession. This will often happen after the media has called the race for the other candidate; it usually isn't a surprise. A normal campaign will often go quiet--stop sending people to talk on TV, etc.--when they're getting ready to concede. (Trump arguably** still hasn't conceded 2020, so no one is particularly expecting him to concede any time this coming week.)
It's normal for the numbers to change a lot. There are always some surprises, but there are also standard patterns: results from the southeast usually come in a clump, and put a lot of electoral votes into the Republican column, early in the night. Democrats usually pick up the west coast states, which of course are the last to close their polls and start reporting results***. For the swing states, where we'll probably see a lot of reporting on very incomplete vote totals, results will start coming in first from the rural areas, which lean red; cities take longer to count their votes--because there are more of them--and lean blue.
The more uncertainty there is about the outcome, the more you'll hear about the evolving numbers--news networks have airtime to fill, and there's only so many ways you can say, "Still too close to call." Try not to obsess over these numbers; the news networks have people specially trained to analyze this exact kind of data, and if they can't say how it's going to turn out, you're not going to know, either.
If it ends up being too close to call for several days, there will probably be reporting on small, county-by-county vote dumps. It's important to realize that this is all still the original count of the votes, not a recount or "finding new votes." We only hear about it when the election is so close that these relatively small numbers of ballots are likely to affect the outcome, but it happens every single election. In 2020, Trump repeatedly claimed that ongoing counts were some how irregular, and sometimes demanded that counts be stopped when the current total showed him in the lead. This is, to be clear, nuts; the full & complete count of the votes always takes more than just the one day, and it's a bedrock principle of democracy that every valid ballot is counted.
(* Back in 2000, the Bush-Gore election with the whole Florida debacle, several major news outlets did project winners too soon, and then had to walk back their projections.
This definitely contributed to the chaos that night, and may have also contributed to the widespread perception that Bush was the "real" winner and Gore was dragging the country through multiple recounts, in those first few days when the initial count of wasn't even complete in some states.
As a result, responsible media outlets are much more cautious these days about election-night projections.)
(**On January 7, 2021 he made a statement that was taken as indicating his understanding that Biden had won, or at least that he knew he wouldn't be staying in office, but he never stopped saying he won.)
(***This often looks like the Republican being miles ahead, and then suddenly California reports in and they aren't anymore. Expect Trump to pretend that this is somehow shocking, even though the last time a Republican won California was 1988.
Similarly, he will also pretend to be surprised when, for instance, Philadelphia turns in their first big batch of results, and Harris's numbers jump up.)
A friendly reminder to USians: if you are planning to vote on Election Day, your mantra is "Nothing I see today convinces me not to go vote."
Exit polls suggest DT cannot be caught? YOU STILL GO VOTE.
Exit polls suggest KH has it in the bag? YOU STILL GO VOTE.
Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly red? YOU STILL GO VOTE.
Pundits are saying the country is swinging overwhelmingly blue? YOU STILL GO VOTE.
Polls can be misleading (intentionally or not). The methodology can be biased (or simply poor). Early results may not reflect what the full count will show. There may be a red mirage. NOTHING YOU SEE CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.
The biggest Democratic win in swing states means nothing if democrats don't turn out everywhere to keep the reliably blue states blue.
VOTE. Wear appropriate weather gear if you think you may have to stand in a line outside (coat, hat, gloves, umbrella, sunhat, whatever, you know where you live). Bring water and a snack and something to do (book, game on your phone, podcast and headphones, whatever, you know what you like). GO VOTE.
NOTHING YOU SEE ON ELECTION DAY CONVINCES YOU NOT TO VOTE.
Anyway, I donāt just bring this up when I talk about Twilight, but I do bring it up every time I talk about Twilight:
Reminder that the Quileute tribe, whose sacred stories made author Stephanie Meyer a multi-millionaire, never received any money from the enormous success of the Twilight books or films.
Their entire community is located in a Tsunami disaster zone, in a region where a world-changing earthquake and tsunami are expected to hit perhaps within our lifetimes.
They should be set for life financially based on the use of their stories in Twilight. Instead, they have to publicly raise funds to move to higher ground and have been raising the same funds for years.
Anyone is encouraged to donate, but if you have personally purchased a physical or digital copy of any Twilight media or Twilight merchandise, I recommend matching the purchase with an equal donation to the Quileute People.
Recently, they successfully moved their school to higher ground! It was a major accomplishment to ensure Quileute children can learn in a safe environment! But there is still much to be done .
Statement from the Tribe (link to the source):
āLiving in a tsunami zone at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, a catastrophic earthquake can wipe out our community in less than 10 minutes ā an entire generation of the Quileute people will cease to exist.ā
You can even set up a monthly donation. I donāt have much, but Iāve had a small monthly donation coming out of my PayPal for a few years now.
Quileute Move to Higher Ground |
Many people donāt realize that the tribe didnāt profit off of Twilight, so I mention it whenever I bring up the series!
If you want to read more about how Twilight impacted the Quileute People, check out āThe Truth vs. Twilight.ā
Now that the school is safely moved, Phase 2 of the move to higher ground aims to relocate the senior center out of the tsunami zone, as well provide housing for the community in the safety zone.
The Quileute Tribe has been fundraising to save its community for years. Letās make this happen!
Once again, if you purchase any Twilight media or merchandiseāeven from independent fanartistsāplease match with a donation to the Quileute people!
executive dysfunction is literally like. ive had a random dollar on my floor for two weeks and i dont know when ill fit it in my schedule to pick it up. people dont realize this
Iirc the original images are from years ago, and everyone was worried that the owl was actually stuck to the toy - but apparently the townspeople had seen him put it down to hunt and such, and then go back to pick it up again. Which straight up triples my enjoyment of this story.
a CEO walks into his office āany messages?ā he asks his assistant
ātwo anons want to know who tom petty is and one just says āpost your ballsackāā
āgot it. check my dashboardā
āthat skeleton gif you like is back againā
he rubs his chin pensively āmm. reblog thatā
āwhat if kids identify with something and it ends up just being a phase-?ā good. stop teaching and expecting kids (and adults honestly) to formulate permanent traits and ideas of themselves. everything in life is a phase. that doesnāt make it any less legitimate while you experience it. let people explore themselves and know itās okay if what you think about yourself changes.
Can Kamala Harris win? Does she really stand a chance? Iām so scared for my American friends, their families and every kind, decent human being who resides there.
She has a motherfucking chance because we are going to GIVE her a motherfucking chance.
No more talking about how "of course" the country won't elect a black woman. No more dooming. We can destroy the fucking billionaire donors as soon as the election is over. We can do everything else as soon as we have time to do it because we are not being fucked in the ass by Trump and his despicable orange fascists.
We are going to rally the fuck behind Kamala Harris and we are going to do it now. We are going to support whichever VP she chooses. We are going to be on the fucking lookout for any Purity Police whining about how Kamala isn't good enough either. We are going to keep our eyes fucking open for the Russian interference that frankly, I suspect, contributed heavily to this in the first place. We are going to learn our fucking lesson from 2016 and not whine about Third Party Protest Votes. We are going to pull together and quit fucking whining. Now Biden is out. You don't have to cOnDeSceNd yourself to voting for him. You are going to fucking help us get Kamala in office so fucking help us God. Then we can deal with the rest of it later. It is that simple.
