SL

A digital illustration of the Doof Warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road. He’s a guy in a red union suit wearing a strange shapeless leather mask/helmet thing. He’s playing a jerry-rigged double-necked guitar made out of junk and spare parts that includes a flamethrower between the two necks which is currently throwing flames. He is suspended in a dramatic jumping pose by some bungee cords I didn’t actually draw in, in front of a huge stack of implied amps and speakers which, if you look hard enough, are actually the words ‘Maybe it will happen today’.

04.12.2025 14:10 — 👍 117    🔁 24    💬 2    📌 1

Stanhill, Lancashire, 1764. Wear and carpenter James Hargreaves invents the Spinning Jenny, the first practical spinning-frame, to make the tedious task of producing cloth a little bit faster. He doesn't know it yet, but this will destroy the world. Spurred by inventions like his, the industrial revolution will transform everything -- work power, the wealth of nations. Society as we know it began here, and it wasn't great for everyone. But a group of weavers and textile workers saw this future coming. And did their best to prevent it.

"Curse you spinning jenny, you ruined everything!" The standard narrative does that LUDDITES were foolish lunatics who, in fear of technology, decided progress was bad, and started hitting it with sticks. But the truth is entire ways of life were being destroyed. Previously, skilled craftsmen were respected for the time and effort it took to do their work. The entire family usit would form a cottage industry - creating something valuable, and command a decent living. But when a machine can work 10 times faster its owner can charge less for the prodcts- craftsmen couldn't compete and were left out of work almost overnight. And as factories became a fixture of the british landscape, these now unemployed labourers often ended up working the factories that had just destroyed their way of life. Britain was the most prosperous nation in history, factory owners became extremely wealthy and influential. But the people doing the actual work saw almost none of it.

Factory work paid little, since "the machines" did "the real work" human labourers were deemed unimportant and replaceable. FUN FACT!: Factory owners preferred to hire ORPHANS since less people would notice if they were maimed or killed on the job! Now the owners quickly realized the workers might notice they did all the work for almost no pay. If they went on STRIKE or ARGUED FOR HGHER WAGES, this would threaten their tremendous wealth. In 1799, Parliament passed the Combination Act, which made FORMING TRADE UNIONS, COLLECTIVE BARGAINING, AND GOING ON STRIKE ILLEGAL. Organizing against the rich became a crime.

If you were living through it, opposing the industrial revolution wasn't techno-phobia. It was SELF-DEFENSE. The combination act forced unions underground into secret societies. And the greatest secret of all was their leader - Ned Ludd. Ned had been a folk character for years. In one version after being whipped by his master, he smashed two knitting frames in a rage. In more fanciful versions, he then escaped to the Sherwood forest, here he lived among the animals as their king. Some versions specifically call him 'Much Better Than Robin Hood'.

Happy Labor Day!

Today we're bringing you The First Union, as told by HBomberguy (@hbomberguy.bsky.social) and illustrated by Skutch (@skutchdraws.bsky.social) It's the dawn of the industrial revolution, and of the way many of us work...

Have you ever heard of the term "Luddite" from an elder?

01.09.2025 17:15 — 👍 1977    🔁 984    💬 16    📌 44

I Finished The Pitt. Yeah it was really good. #art #thepitt

12.07.2025 21:04 — 👍 76    🔁 20    💬 3    📌 0

the pope emerges to chelsea dagger by the fratellis

08.05.2025 17:26 — 👍 117    🔁 16    💬 2    📌 1

White daffodils with golden centers.

Red flowers with golden yellow centers.

A bright orange-red tulip with yellow and white daffodils in the background.

An array of tulips and daffodils in a range of colors — eggy white, dusty red, bright orange and yellow.

It’s happening

23.04.2025 02:25 — 👍 445    🔁 37    💬 5    📌 1

Find someone who looks at you the way nurses look at my veiny witch hands when they are prepping for blood collection

16.04.2025 13:07 — 👍 461    🔁 23    💬 18    📌 4

We can upload 3 minute videos now.

YOU KNOW THE RULE

10.03.2025 19:52 — 👍 9103    🔁 4615    💬 183    📌 984

Carly Rae Jeppson's Malört

03.04.2025 00:39 — 👍 63    🔁 10    💬 3    📌 1

I heard there was a secret ooze
It turned four turtles into dudes
But you don't really care for pizza, do ya?

They fought like this,
Two swords, a stick
A couple sai
Some nunchuck tricks
Those Ninja boys-a callin

Cowabunga

29.03.2025 22:11 — 👍 7074    🔁 2431    💬 90    📌 142

Putting a bumper sticker on my Ford that’s says “I bought this before Henry became a nazi sympathizer with rabid anti-Semitic views.”

23.03.2025 18:48 — 👍 16    🔁 4    💬 2    📌 0

the more democrats concede to the republican war on trans people, the more that signals to the public that trans people are a problem and should be stigmatized.

03.03.2025 13:58 — 👍 7188    🔁 1367    💬 41    📌 91

seeing takes about the aid institutions and their role in imperialism. correct. If someone said "investor-owned hospitals exploit the vulnerable to benefit shareholders" I'd nod. If their followup was "and that's why I'm turning off your mom's dialysis machine" I'd...have some followup questions

03.02.2025 15:24 — 👍 4310    🔁 1031    💬 23    📌 29

It must be the first week back to school cause there's a bunch of 14yo on my bus who are vastly underdressed for how cold it is 🥶

07.01.2025 13:21 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I did it again!

Jurassic Park with accurate raptors, a short part 2

#jurassicpark #blender3d

05.01.2025 22:17 — 👍 13190    🔁 4197    💬 416    📌 518

I lied, they were ready at 0030 and delicious

25.12.2024 06:17 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

we will not eat the tamales until at least 10pm.

24.12.2024 21:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

masa is made, chiles are softening, meat is cooking

24.12.2024 20:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

it's tamale day on the east side

24.12.2024 19:51 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

The best feeling is getting to the bus stop literally seconds before the bus pulls up.

16.12.2024 13:12 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

look Chicago is never getting rid of dibs but my mandate is that if you shovel your car out and call dibs you only get to keep it if you shovel the sidewalk you had to walk on to get to your parking spot.

12.01.2024 15:45 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

shout out to the heroes of the CTA who open the top windows so everyone isn't breathing in coughs and sneezes as we commute

02.01.2024 16:14 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

My mom's caramel recipe worked (of course) and now me and everyone I've given candy to can't stop eating it

21.12.2023 12:12 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

spent the week researching caramel and made TWO batches. one (from my mom's recipe) clearly better than the other (from the internet) but I still have to wait for it to cool completely before I know if it worked or not.

15.12.2023 20:14 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0