Ellen Seebacher ❌👑

I don't think it's "purity" to feel blindsided when you're participating in a march for one cause and have the crowd take up chanting slogans for another that make you feel extremely uncomfortable and out of place. That's happened to me more than once.

I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to read it last night!

It was so, so good to see an update from you -- and to learn there that you have a Bluesky account, too. Thanks for bringing us another peek into that AU!

Back from the brink, Hampshire College is nearing financial viability In the past five years, the college recommitted to its mission, raised funds and revamped its curriculum. Experts say others can learn from its playbook.

One of my kids transferred from UMass Amherst (which does a dreadful job of supporting students with disabilities) to Hampshire (which is stellar). Hampshire was on shaky ground for a while, though, and I'm praying its turnaround does the trick. www.highereddive.com/news/hampshi...

I've personally met a couple of angry vegans, and they're all too common online -- I've blocked a few on Bluesky.

(And I have nothing against vegans -- my daughter was vegan for two years, and we cheerfully made her meals she could eat -- I just don't care to be shouted at and proselytized.)

I'm reading this while drinking a rich dark roast, black. But when I'm out running errands, if I buy a second coffee, I rarely order another black dark roast -- I can have that anytime. So I'll often get something like a flat white, which requires more effort, as a treat.

Back in the days when I seemed to tolerate gluten, I liked *real* fruitcake. Anything with colors not found in nature, though, was an instant "no." Most fruitcakes seem to contain more food coloring and preservatives than fruit -- and I'm allergic to tartrazine and sulfites. :(

Jensen Ackles, who played Dean Winchester (a demon-hunter obsessed with pie) on Supernatural, is wearing a devilish expression as he points at a neon sign that says EAT PIE, KILL DEMONS.

i.pinimg.com/originals/cd...

Er, no. Blueberries are also for Maine Pie Company gluten-free blueberry pie, which is the bomb.

Eh. I live over the border from New Hampshire’s state-run liquor stores, which do just fine. I don’t see why states and large municipalities couldn’t handle grocery sales just as well.

Commissaries still exist. Can you clarify your question?

My father was a career Air Force officer, though he’s dead now. Commissaries still exist. If you have a point here, I’m clearly missing it.

Pardon? I grew up going to government grocery stores with my dad. We called them
commissaries.

@politicalwire.com was founded in 1999. (PW is more of a news aggregator, true, but Taegan Goddard still does regular pieces where he or guest writers go into more depth on the news.)

Wasn’t me, it was a poster on r/AO3. I’d have been just as happy not knowing, but the Reddit comments were hilarious.

I'm ignoring you both.

The guy at HD making all the Republican donations died last year. Meanwhile, Lowe’s was one of the first companies to bend the knee on DEI, while HD kept its diversity page up much later (it’s since been watered down). We no longer shop at Lowe’s.

Yep. I couldn't see anything at all with the naked eye, but got some nice mixed colors with my old iPhone, which usually struggles in low light. Lots of subdued greens and lavenders.

It’s supposed to be visible as far south as Oklahoma and North Carolina, maybe even Alabama!

Doesn’t matter if they’re not in and their voicemail isn’t accepting messages.

Purity tests? Saying you’ll vote for a Republican to screw us harder because Democrats aren’t standing up to totalitarianism hard enough strikes me as more of a tantrum.

I’m entirely in favor of primarying all these cowards, but not in favor of voting *for* even less healthcare and civil rights.

@unchi.org just called one of the craven NH Senators' offices to leave voicemail, and he was hollering:

“You’re a Democrat! You’re the opposition party! I campaigned for you! I raised money for you! What are you DOING? Get off the mat!”

Wish I’d recorded it.

I almost hope this does become a campaign issue, if only so we can have a conversation about what is actually most closely aligned with Biblical values: starving poor children, or listening to sex workers.

I used to be the biggest fan (no joke, I won a town library trivia contest with a perfect score) but I couldn't even bring myself to watch IX after slogging through VII and VIII. (They should have kept the EU.)

But Andor is awesome. Watch it.

I can still sing the theme song word for word, but I didn’t remember what the Greatest American Hero *looked* like, and since the photo wasn’t alt-tagged I had to ask @unchi.org to ID it.

I was addressing the "masks don't work" Reply Guy, not you. I apologize that the threading made that unclear.

I meant "reams," of course, despite what my phone thinks. DYAC.

"Most people use 'mask' and 'respirator' interchangeably, but when the CDC and medical professionals say 'respirator,' they specifically mean fitted face coverings with certified filtration, like N95s, KN95s and KF94s." --NBC News.

Hope that helps!

If you're unfamiliar with the teams of evidence that fit-tested respirators work, I'd be happy to point you to studies. If you're an anti-masking troll, I'd be happy to block you and move on. Do let me know.

Oh, sure — that’s how those of us who haven’t been sick in nearly six years have managed it: magic. Couldn’t possibly be the high-quality masks.

(Feel free to DM me.)