@mattcropp.bsky.social
In #BTV #Vermont. Steeped in the deep lore of co-ops, employee ownership, & solidarity economics. Enjoys amateurish tinkering on electronics and energy with hackerspace friends. Preschooler parent. Now is the Time of Monsters.
Gearing up for my role as a Stroller Dad in the #btv #NoKings March today. See you on the streets!
#vermont #vt
Our primate brains aren't built for that way of being, and it eats away at the psyche like acid in the absence of extremely deliberate and expensive protective measures.
18.10.2025 11:41 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Celebrity is human sacrifice.
Always has been.
Only empty approximations of authentic human being-in-community are possible in the presence of the scale and scope of parasocial relationships that make one a "celebrity".
The foundational requirement to be an effective political movement in the 18th-20th centuries was ownership of a printing press.
15.10.2025 23:09 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Yeah, not a fan of gerontocracy generally.
But the nature of the risk for swing seats is meaningfully different vs safe seats. There is a 0% chance Vermont would elect an R to replace Bernie, while an open election in Maine could easily swing either way.
Haunted by the Ghost of RBG...
What are the odds that you'll be alive in a year?
The publicly-available Social Security Administration actuarial tables can be... grounding... to review from time to time.
www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/t...
Actuarial realism needs to be part of folks' calculations.
The odds of a 79 y/o woman dying in the next year are 4%, according the the SSA. Spread that escalating % over a 6 year term, and the odds of losing an incumbent in a swing district mid-term are significant.
www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/t...
Such people are why I am usually packing a collapsible baton when I take my preschooler to the park...
14.10.2025 02:11 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Note: Due to a critical mass of core volunteers participating in the No Kings march on Saturday, we'll be running the ONE Repair Cafe from 2pm-6pm rather than 11am-3pm this month.
Location as always is 12 North Street. #BTV #VT #Vermont #BurlingtonVT
"Permanent Real Estate Cooperative" is one model. Basically a consumer co-op real estate holding company.
11.10.2025 18:38 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Guy who complains about Mastodon posts being called "toots" from the "skeets" website.
11.10.2025 11:38 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Pic of flagpole on my deck topped with a hacked solar node.
#Meshtastic Day 1: I just got a fun little radio! I wonder who else is out there?
Meshtastic Day 100: *mounts a 25' flagpole on my deck in a quixotic bid to reach Montreal from Vermont*
SHOUTY FACE MAN NO, YOU ARE WRONG! This man is not complaining that he has A CORN on his toe, but is shouting: the ACORN They are the of Every STOVE, DELIGHT Housewife
If this website ever gets ads:
11.10.2025 02:58 β π 11 π 1 π¬ 0 π 0Sell your stonks.
10.10.2025 15:55 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Moved my only stonk market exposure (my kid's 529) out of stocks into bonds and cash a few days ago. Markets hitting ATHs while in screaming denial about the depth of the political-economic crisis we're in seems like a good time to take a lil break.
Enough lil breaks = a big break...
Hey #BTV, come hand out with us at our weekly public hours. Every Thursday night (including tonight) fro 7p to at least 9p, usually later.
#vt #Vermont #BurlingtonVT
The Democrats have to focus on healthcare above all else. Most of them don't have spines which is a serious medical condition.
08.10.2025 23:10 β π 84 π 8 π¬ 0 π 1Subsidizing home ownership as the primary site of wealth-building for Americans of limited means has, over time, shown itself to be a disastrous, contradiction-riddled policy.
The focus needs to be on broadening ownership of the actual generators of economic wealth: business enterprises.
Can't *legally* strike.
The history of American labor progress is a history of wildcat strikes.
The public sector is one of the last bastions of union density in America; things will start moving quickly if the federal workforce decides that it will no longer tolerate the boot on its neck.
Consider moving your 401k $$ out of index funds and into blue state municipal bond funds for a bit?
Capital strike against one of the most salient economic metrics by which many people judge the success or failure of a Presdency, while giving folks like Pritzker more fiscal room to maneuver.
I wish there was a simple way to divest retirement $$ into Vermont municipal and State bonds.
Some bigger states like Mass have specific funds you can buy, but Vermont is not currently in that bucket...
FTR, I love Mastodon, and it will probably be one of the last sustainably free spaces as the crackdowns deepens.
But, lol.
I am happy the no kings protest is happening but it is fundamentally insufficient. This isnβt something solved with a civil mass protest once every 3 months. It needs to blow up into something bigger and we need national democratic leadership to organize with these movements and local groups.
05.10.2025 02:15 β π 280 π 37 π¬ 17 π 2Our friends at Carolina Common Enterprise are transitioning from a traditional nonprofit to a worker self-managed cooperative! Pitch in to support the future of cooperative ecosystem development in the Carolinas. givebutter.com/c/CCEBetterW...
04.10.2025 22:01 β π 29 π 11 π¬ 0 π 0meme. one m&m talking to another, which is laid out on the ground. the first says "are you ok?" the second says "no i paid a lot for bad ipas"
They say beer is recession-proof but they never said anything about $23 four-packs of blowout juice
03.10.2025 13:56 β π 34 π 3 π¬ 4 π 0wait is THAT the strategy? alienate the most prominent keystone & tech-inclined demo by subtly fanning and seeding an intrinsically hostile environment so they will leave to build their own and adopt atproto to do it?
perhaps i have misjudged you Jay, perhaps i did not recognize your game.
Decided now's the time to blow the dandelion, I see(d)...
04.10.2025 12:15 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0