suffrajett reblogged
suffrajett reblogged
Elon Musk bought the company. He has nothing to do with the development. #CosplayEngineer
No. I will not have you do this.
Dr. Nikola Tesla did not sign bad contracts. He signed an excellent contract with Westinghouse to bring AC power to America. Westinghouse was the big competitor against Edison Electric, which ran DC power. Thomas Edison was a massive prick and Edison Electric went around doing its best to convince everyone that AC power was dangerous, most infamously by electrocuting an elephant to death and developing the first execution-style electric chair using AC power. All of this cemented in the mind of the public that AC power was dangerous and deadly, while DC power was somehow safer.
By 1890, Westinghouse was in trouble. George Westinghouse went to Tesla and laid out the truth: if he honored the royalty contracts that he’d agreed to pay Tesla, he would go bankrupt. So Tesla tore up the contracts. He walked away from millions, maybe billions of dollars because he believed that wireless electricity should be free to the world. Westinghouse went on to bring AC power to homes across America.
Tesla wasn’t a bad businessman. He was an idealist who hated capitalism.
suffrajett reblogged
suffrajett reblogged
Please stop using disabilities you don't have as comparisons.
I saw a video trying to explain that autistic people don't make eye contact because it can be painful for them (good, this is true) and telling them to "just do it anyway" is ridiculous, saying "you wouldn't tell a wheelchair user to "just walk, its better for you" so don't tell autistic people to just make eye contact".
But people do. They do all the time. It's well documented that doctors will withhold their ok for patients to get a wheelchair (which is needed unless you're paying out of pocket, because insurance and most public disability services like the NDIS need proof from a doctor). I've known people who can hardly walk and are having to fight because the doctor still insists it better for them to walk, even if it's painful and sevearly limiting their quality of life.
Then in the comments, someone pointed out that people do say that to wheelchair users (good, this is true) but then continued on by saying "unless you just don't have legs" which is just as bad as the origonal.
I had to fight to get my first wheelchair as a double leg amputee, and every wheelchair since then I've had to justify not wanting the "better option" (prosthetics) to the government so they'll approve me for the funding. Doctors and even strangers too, all want to know why I'm not walking, why I'm not using prosthetics all the time. When I go on trips with my family I'm told to "just walk" so they don't have to pack my wheelchair. at my own graduation from university I was chastised by the organisers for not bringing my prosthetics (because wearing them was exceptionally painful back then and i hadnt worn them in nearly 3 months. I had asked before if this would be ok. they knew) because the venue was accessible but not the part of the venue the graduates were in. On the topic of university they also put my class in the only non-wheelchair accessible room and held meetings i was expected to take part in, in the non-accessible lunch room. When I complained, I was told to just use my legs for a few minutes so I could get into my classes. Being an amputee with no legs didn't shield me from these experiences either, it often made it worse.
I have all 3 of the disabilities mentioned (autistic, wheelchair user, amputee). If you don't have the disability you're using for a comparison, don't use it. Please
suffrajett reblogged
This ABSOLUTELY works.
I have used this for many years. Definitely b do it.
This article was super long-winded so I screenshat the important part
the fact we’re responsible for getting doctors to “lower their defenses” in order to literally just do their jobs is ✨INFURIATING✨
suffrajett reblogged
suffrajett reblogged
Some polling station worker got to deliver the dunk of a lifetime today.
suffrajett reblogged
Wtf don't they know puberty blockers are important for cisgender kids, too?
Not really. The way their belief system works is that nothing inconvenient to their worldview can be real.
But a lot of basically decent people don't necessarily know that, either, and we should be yelling about it.
I have a kid I know who needed to be put on puberty blockers because she has a brain issue that made her start puberty at age 6. This was a kids with so many health issues, was special needs and in diapers unable to speak more than about 30 words. They’d try to make her go through precocious puberty on top of figuring out how to potty train and walk. Fucked up.
I do have kid I know who was on hrt and trans. They were on it a little too long and it caused some bone issues- so making sure that parents are held accountable for diet and proper sr visits is reasonable- but that is not what this is. It is a blanket ban!!
suffrajett reblogged
Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #16
April 26-May 3 2024
- President Biden announced $3 billion to help replace lead pipes in the drinking water system. Millions of Americans get their drinking water through lead pipes, which are toxic, no level of lead exposure is safe. This problem disproportionately affects people of color and low income communities. This first investment of a planned $15 billion will replace 1.7 million lead pipe lines. The Biden Administration plans to replace all lead pipes in the country by the end of the decade.
- President Biden canceled the student debt of 317,000 former students of a fraudulent for-profit college system. The Art Institutes was a for-profit system of dozens of schools offering degrees in video-game design and other arts. After years of legal troubles around misleading students and falsifying data the last AI schools closed abruptly without warning in September last year. This adds to the $29 billion in debt for 1.7 borrowers who wee mislead and defrauded by their schools which the Biden Administration has done, and a total debt relief for 4.6 million borrowers so far under Biden.
- President Biden expanded two California national monuments protecting thousands of acres of land. The two national monuments are the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, which are being expanded by 120,000 acres. The new protections cover lands of cultural and religious importance to a number of California based native communities. This expansion was first proposed by then Senator Kamala Harris in 2018 as part of a wide ranging plan to expand and protect public land in California. This expansion is part of the Administration's goals to protect, conserve, and restore at least 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by 2030.
- The Department of Transportation announced new rules that will require car manufacturers to install automatic braking systems in new cars. Starting in 2029 all new cars will be required to have systems to detect pedestrians and automatically apply the breaks in an emergency. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration projects this new rule will save 360 lives every year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually.
- The IRS announced plans to ramp up audits on the wealthiest Americans. The IRS plans on increasing its audit rate on taxpayers who make over $10 million a year. After decades of Republicans in Congress cutting IRS funding to protect wealthy tax cheats the Biden Administration passed $80 billion for tougher enforcement on the wealthy. The IRS has been able to collect just in one year $500 Million in undisputed but unpaid back taxes from wealthy households, and shows a rise of $31 billion from audits in the 2023 tax year. The IRS also announced its free direct file pilot program was a smashing success. The program allowed tax payers across 12 states to file directly for free with the IRS over the internet. The IRS announced that 140,000 tax payers were able to use it over their target of 100,000, they estimated it saved $5.6 million in tax prep fees, over 90% of users were happy with the webpage and reported it quicker and easier than companies like H&R Block. the IRS plans to bring direct file nationwide next year.
- The Department of Interior announced plans for new off shore wind power. The two new sites, off the coast of Oregon and in the Gulf of Maine, would together generate 18 gigawatts of totally clean energy, enough to power 6 million homes.
- The Biden Administration announced new rules to finally allow DACA recipients to be covered by Obamacare. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an Obama era policy that allows people brought to the United States as children without legal status to remain and to legally work. However for years DACA recipients have not been able to get health coverage through the Obamacare Health Care Marketplace. This rule change will bring health coverage to at least 100,000 uninsured people.
- The Department of Health and Human Services finalized rules that require LGBTQ+ and Intersex minors in the foster care system be placed in supportive and affirming homes.
- The Senate confirmed Georgia Alexakis to a life time federal judgeship in Illinois. This brings the total number of federal judges appointed by President Biden to 194. For the first time in history the majority of a President's nominees to the federal bench have not been white men.
suffrajett reblogged
My dear friends: When a librarian or teacher says "Audiobooks count as reading", we do not literally mean that audiobooks are the same as decoding visual meaning via symbols representing sounds. We mean, among other things:
- Audiobooks can expose listeners to new vocabulary and forms of syntax.
- Audiobooks can present listeners with long-form fictional narratives with engaging characters, interesting literary devices, and poetic turns of phrase.
- Audiobooks can teach listeners new information in a long-form manner that goes into depth or wide breadth on a particular subject or subjects.
- Audiobooks can help listeners' verbal comprehension skills.
- Audiobooks can do all these things without presenting the same difficulties to blind, low vision, partially sighted, visually impaired, or dyslexic listeners; listeners with ADHD; listeners who experience physical difficulty with holding a book or e-reader; or listeners who are disabled in a host of other ways that a physical book or e-reader might present.
- The written word is not specially imbued with magical noble worth above the spoken word, and if you think it is, you may have some ableism and/or racism to deconstruct.
suffrajett reblogged
Saw your post from the author who was happy people were using Libby. I'm torn as I understand the author is happy to get the license renewed, but libraries only get 26 loans on a digital license vs 60-80 loans on a physical copy. I love the convenience of digital books, but if taking out the physical copy is better for the library I'm willing to make the trip. Just looking for thoughts from others about it.
It depends on the license agreement the library has and its different for every one. Some renew annually, others renew by X amount of rentals. The library does what is best for them, and the more people use their services the more they can usually argue for more funding.
This is not universal, of course, but most of the librarians I know are ecstatic when people use their services.
Library worker here! PLEASE take advantage of Libby. We have these digital services because people use them. They're critical accessibility aids for many people and mean the library is an option for people who otherwise can't get to a physical location regularly.
Use Libby, visit your library if possible, vote in local elections and attend town council meetings - all of these make material differences to libraries by providing them with increased funding. Never feel guilty for accessing our online services. You're helping your library and so, so, so many people in you community when you use our resources, no matter if they're physical or digital
Quoting myself from another post:
Please, PLEASE use Libby. OverDrive. Hoopla. CloudLibrary. Kanopy. Flipster. Freegal. Transparent Language. Mango. Jstor. Your library would not offer it if they could not afford it, and we afford things by reporting the number of people who use that service, so if you don't use the service we can't afford it. It's a cycle. Keep it going, keep using it, and we'll keep providing because we'll be able to justify the cost to the bean counters in government.
An interesting article on the in-between zone when it comes to trans care.
My biggest takeaway is how trans care has become black and white and political, and how that hurts trans people and those considering if they are trans. someone’s identity is so maleable and unique that it requires maleable and unique care for each patient. One size fits all models never work for any care- why would gender care be different?
Transphobes are obviously incredibly dangerous and their policies and bigotry are killing people and hurting so very many!
But I also think that it is good to give young people a chance to explore their identity safely and figure out who they are without pressuring them to label themselves trans immediately the moment they question their gender.
Gender and sexuality and identity are all so hard to explore without all these outside pressures to either ‘be cis het you godless heathen- kill yourself‘ or ‘immediately transition and ignore your comorbidities or other possible identities or you’ll kill yourself.’
Like… identity is hard to navigate. People should be able to find their fit with no outside pressure. Are you gay? Are you just slightly gender nonconformist but cis het? Are you nonbinary? Are you trans? I wish we could have better models to help people explore this and have them be more universal models instead of just ‘get fucked’ or ‘transition immediately!’ Like, exploring is healthy.
It took me a while to figure out my sexual identity- and mostly because I grew up in the south ina. Time when me being seen as a lesbian hadnñarents calling my house - but if I was a kid today I could see me accidentally believing I was trans since I was not very gender conforming in many ways as a kid, loved playing boys in plays, and wanted a deep voice to hit low notes at times. 90% of the time I like being feminine now, and am on my way to being a mom- and 10% I love doing ‘man-voice’ and occasionally like drag. I know I’m queer now, but I grew up at a time where being queer was not safe and identity that wasn’t cis het was seen as dangerous. The only thing I’m grateful for from that horrible oppressive state and time is that I had time to know who I was and figure out my identity.
I never want kids to experience the deep fear and shame I went through- and know sadly so many kids still do- but I hope we can give them the time and space they deserve to know who they are and take their time with it. We should be able to let them explore all the nuances before getting locked into anything.
Are you trans today? Cool! What are your pronouns? If it’s my kid,‘I’d also ask that we explore what gender means to them. What part of that different gender calls to them? Have they thought about sexual orientation? What does it mean to them to be a man/woman/person etc. let’s explore and learn in a safe environment where it’s ok for what you identify with now to not necessarily be perm any, but it’s also ok for it to be permanent.
suffrajett reblogged
Republicans think they won this battle.
November is going to be a reckoning for their misogyny and disrespect.
suffrajett reblogged
Your beliefs help guide YOUR life.
You don't get to judge others and force them to suffer because of your personal beliefs.
Accept this, though; you are afraid and cruel.
suffrajett reblogged
Take matters into your own hands? This is beyond coded language or dog whistle.
And he edited the tweet!
Says a lot about this former military guy who knows rules of engagement and Senator who took an oath to defend constitutional rights.
Attacking civilians would have got Cotton court martialed and imprisoned.
Now, Republican Senator Cotton fundraises off of fomenting terror.
suffrajett reblogged
Hello?