@isotope239@mastodon.online
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isotope239

@isotope239@mastodon.online

I'm an irritated academic who is increasingly dismayed by the general lack of critical thinking skills displayed by the general public in the United States.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

purplepadma, to random
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

Tom asked me if I want to watch the Sunak/Starmer debate with him. I thought about it, and then I thought about my mental health my tendency towards insomnia, and I decided I am better off sticking to my journaling/reading/meditation late evening routine

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma You are very wise!

purplepadma, to random
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

I like immigration. I like not to have serious skills gaps in our services. I like mixing with people who grew up in other countries. I like being enriched by other cultures. I would like the feeling that my country opened its arms to people fleeing terrible situations elsewhere. I don’t understand why other people don’t think like this

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma I spend about half the year at a location quite close to the Mexico border with the US. The US version of tories howl constantly about diseased rapist immigrants flooding over the border but neither the diseased criminal bit nor the flooding is actually true. While it's true that the border crossing areas could definitely use more processing facilities to help with the paperwork, the actual immigrant traffic is reasonably orderly and very few are criminals. 1/3

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma Here's the thing; this area has a severe shortage of home health care workers. Until quite recently, we were trying to keep my elderly father in his home but he needed a lot of help. We finally found an agency that could provide him with the appropriate care and the very kind lady who attended on my dad was (shock! horror!) an immigrant. 2/3

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma Mary was just lovely to my dad. She kept him and his house tidy, fixed meals, checked his vital signs, kept him clean as much as he'd let her, kept him on his meds schedule, basically anything needed to keep him healthy and comfortable. When we finally had to take him into care, about a month afterward, she texted me to ask how he was doing.

I don't know what we would have done without immigrants. 3/3

purplepadma, to food
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

Well dinner was very nice https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/slow-cooker-chicken-chasseur I’ll be making that recipe again. And it was warm enough to eat outside! Now chilling by the fire pit, listening to jazz and sipping my drink. All very civilised #food

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma That looks delicious! Bon Appetite!

purplepadma, to random
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

Not feeling great this evening. Low/anxious. Thinking of taking some sleep meds in an attempt to get to sleep earlier than 2am. Maybe improved sleep would lead to improved mood…?

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma Do whatever you need to do to get a good night's rest. It's bound to make you feel better physically at least and that's at least something, you reckon?

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

When SCOTUS fucks us over during the month of June, you’ll see just how DANGEROUS it is to NOT VOTE.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 ABSOLUTELY!!! Don't look at me, I vote for dog catcher, school boards, every election no matter how small. The viciously crazy types work their way into the system by going after those small elections that no one pays attention to. Sort of like getting termites only more destructive. The Women's League of Voters has a nifty one-stop-shop for figuring out what's going on in your area: https://www.vote411.org

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 Most welcome! It's a great tool since it does all the hunting around for what's happening locally for you. Makes it easy!

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

HUNDREDS WILL DIE THIS YEAR!

‘Just brutal’: Why America’s hottest city is seeing a surge in deaths

Climbing temperatures are colliding with a lack of planning in Phoenix. Hundreds have DIED. Hundreds more will.
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #GlobalWarming #climatecrisis #climatechange

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/28/americas-hottest-city-phoenix-00158243

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@Snowshadow @Free_Press If the authorities had the will to do so, they'd tax the morbidly rich at a rate that'd allow them to apply the obvious solution: build homes for the homeless. These homes wouldn't need to be fancy, just a place with sanitary facilities and perhaps something to cook with. UBI wouldn't hurt either.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

How much alone time vs socializing do you need?

For me there are a few people who are usually equalizing, and I can just be around them, so I won't count that. But generally, I find about 3 times a week, I'm game for socializing. A day in between to rest is usually nice, but the larger the gathering or if we go somewhere particularly noisy or I'm meeting new people that involves more effort, and my social battery empties sooner. I'm very curious where everyone else falls on this!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr I think I must have used up my social battery back when I was in college as I probably only get together with other people maybe 5 or 6 times a year and I'm quite comfortable with that. Even then, the other people are invariably close relatives rather than unrelated friends. I don't 'click' with unrelated people very often. For that matter I don't click with some of my relatives but at least they're familiar. Noisy spaces are right out, can't stand 'em!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr Exactly! For me anyway, there's no point in going somewhere if you can't chat in a reasonable tone of voice. I could just as easily stay home and listen to AC/DC cranked up on the headphones!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@OldAndCranky @RickiTarr Scoot over, I'm in that same boat. I was actually required to entertain for many years (business stuff) and now that I'm retired... well, no thanks. I'm all socialed out.

TonyStark, to random
@TonyStark@progressivecafe.social avatar

Millions of Americans live within one mile of an abandoned coal mine or an orphaned oil and gas well. These sites are environmental hazards that pollute backyards and community spaces.

Interior announced a nearly $55M investment in ND and WV to plug wells, address hazards, and create good-paying jobs.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Nearly $55 Million from the Investing in America Agenda to Clean Up Legacy Pollution in North Dakota and West Virginia |
https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-nearly-55-million-investing-america-agenda

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@TonyStark There was an article in the Albuquerque Journal just this morning about efforts in NM to clean up all the abandoned oil wells in the state: https://abqjournal-nm.newsmemory.com?selDate=20240527&goTo=A001&artid=1&editionStart=Albuquerque%20Journal

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@TonyStark If you've never been to the SE corner of NM you can have no idea how bleak the landscape is. Flat sparse prairie with pump jacks and drilling rigs as far as the eye can see. Plus when you start getting close to Artesia, the air becomes ripe with the smell of rotten eggs due to the methane. The tourist brochures never show that part of NM.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@TonyStark That's kind of the 'blue corridor' in NM where the highest concentration of Dems are located. If you go to either the NW or SE corners though, you are in deepest darkest MAGAt country unfortunately, complete with oversized trucks flying obnoxious flags. The irony of Biden's help with oil well cleanup is that it's concentrated in those Red parts of the state!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@TonyStark Exactly <sigh>.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Why would MSM not cover Trump’s agenda and the extreme policies he’s planned to enact? Because that’s the United States MSM's oligarch owners want. Don’t be fooled by the gaslighting about horse races and ratings. You could get higher ratings by telling the truth.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 This is all of a piece with tearing down public education so that 53% of current high school grads are functionally illiterate and other attacks on critical thinking. The oligarchs want an ignorant electorate that they can manipulate.

spytfyre, to instagramreality
@spytfyre@mastodon.scot avatar

From now until the , I'm playing the Benny Hill theme tune at full volume and adopting a Kenneth Williams "oooh matron" voice, because it's now the only way to keep a grip on

This video for the latest fishing hook () helps too

https://youtu.be/u7T-SHu5wi8?si=-bFVY-h1s3HlHbw1

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@NormanDunbar @PaulNickson @TCMuffin @Thebratdragon @BashStKid @spytfyre @Man Oh man, I was in Portgordon the other day and a Typhoon went over quite low, they're seriously loud!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@NormanDunbar @PaulNickson @TCMuffin @Thebratdragon @BashStKid @spytfyre @Man It's very pretty walking along the seashore there, isn't it? It can get rather wild if the wind is blowing (big waves), but on a nice evening it's a lovely place to be!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@NormanDunbar @PaulNickson @TCMuffin @Thebratdragon @BashStKid @spytfyre @Man I think so too! Our hoose is just up the hill from the PO so it's a quick stroll to get down to the seashore. On days when the waves are big I'm glad to be a little ways up the hill!

thepoliticalcat, to random
@thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    isotope239,
    @isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

    @thepoliticalcat @obeto I'd like just one thing from 'the good old days': Eisenhower's 91% tax on the top monied 10%. It was that tax on the wealthy that built a lot of our current infrastructure. However, I suspect that the majority of those who yearn for 'the good old days' don't mean they want a fairer tax structure back.

    Adam_Cadmon1, to random
    @Adam_Cadmon1@mastodon.online avatar

    Every cop that responded to Uvalde should be stripped of their POST certification and never allowed to re-certify. Never.

    They should have to work at Baskin Robbins.

    isotope239,
    @isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

    @Adam_Cadmon1 I'll just bet you that every one of those cops is also a card-carrying member of the NRA. It's all fine when they're the ones carrying the guns, not so much when they're confronted with a nutjob carrying an automatic weapon. Every one of their own guns (and I guarantee they've all got several at home) should be confiscated and they should be barred from ever acquiring another firearm. So unarmed and working at Baskin Robbins.

    Mrfunkedude, to random
    @Mrfunkedude@mastodon.social avatar

    It's laundry day damn it. Fortunately I think I only have one load to do today.

    Crap. That doesn't seem right? Why do I only have one load? There's gotta be a missing load somewhere, but where?

    isotope239,
    @isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

    @Mrfunkedude I suspect the socks. They're always losing just one of a pair into another dimension so maybe they've grabbed a whole laundry load this time...

    futurebird, to random
    @futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

    The decisions and policy that have the most profound impacts on the greatest number of human lives often aren't the ones talked about most often in political discourse.

    What is the biggest difference between life in this era and say... European feudalism?

    I would argue it's near universal literacy. And along with simply having access to the written word, the highest percentage of a population armed with some scraps of what you might call a "liberal arts education"

    The ability to self-teach.

    isotope239,
    @isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

    @futurebird My father-in-law was like that. He lied about his age and went into the navy at 15 when WWII started, never went back to school. But, he was definitely the smartest person I ever met. For a variety of reasons, I've taken a lot of IQ tests over the years and typically score highly but I guarantee I'm not as smart as he was, just amazing.

    thepoliticalcat, to random
    @thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    isotope239,
    @isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

    @thepoliticalcat I'd just add 'and mind your own damned business instead of trying foist off your superstitious nonsense on other people'.

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