solarbird: (strictly outdoors)

If you’re a Bluesky user, hello! This post is mostly aimed at Mastodon users, so you might want to read this other post instead, which is for you. It shows how you can give Mastodon users permission to follow your Bluesky account in two clicks, entirely within Bluesky. There’s no interaction with Mastodon involved, it’s 100% Bluesky, no software, no nothing. Thanks!

Did you know BlueSky and Mastodon users can follow each other? They can, through something called a Bridge.

And while the big rush from both Twitter and Facebook at the moment is to BlueSky, I’m also picking up a bunch of new people on Mastodon, which I continue to recommend preferentially.

Now, in some ways, Mastodon is not as turnkey as BlueSky. But the Federation – of which Mastodon is the largest member – has things like groups, longer posts, custom emojis, picture and video services, and most of all didn’t just get another $700M of the same kind of venture capital vulture investment that BlueSky just got, which is in these current days always the vector insert for enshittification.

Don’t get me wrong: BlueSky is better than Meta or Twitter, so if you’re leaving to go there, please, keep doing that! It’s much better, at least for now! And it sends a market message even if BlueSky gets tanked later.

But if you’re willing to be a tiny bit more adventurous, there’s Mastodon. And the even better news is that BlueSky and Mastodon can interoperate via a bridge, which means yes, if you go to Mastodon and some of your friends go to BlueSky, you can still follow each other and keep in contact without having two accounts.

Isn’t Federation amazing? With some help, it even works with BlueSky. Here’s how:

FIRST, you have to turn on the Mastodon-Bluesky bridge. This is what joins the networks and lets them talk to one another. Turning it on is one action, whether you’re on Mastodon or BlueSky.

If you’re on MASTODON:

Follow the account @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy

(If you don’t know how to do that: copy @bsky.brid.gy@bsky.brid.gy into the search box, hit enter. The profile will come up; click “follow.”)

If you’re on BLUESKY:

Follow the account “@ap.brid.gy

(If you don’t know how to find an account, here’s a direct link to its profile:

Click on the link, then click on the “follow” button at that page.)

Done.

Now, this doesn’t follow any specific people! It just turns on the bridge, which allows you to follow people on the other service, and allows people on the other service to follow you.

Unless you change accounts, you only have to do this once. It’s once per account you own. You don’t have to do each time you want to follow someone or anything like that. It’s one and done.

After you’ve turned on the bridge by doing this, you’re ready to talk on both networks with the same account.

NOW IT’S TIME FOR SECOND BREAKFAST

Okay, so you’re set up to follow people on the opposite service! Here’s how to do that.

If you’re on MASTODON (or anywhere in the Federation, really):

Accounts on BlueSky generally look like this when seen from Mastodon:

@[BlueSkyAccountName]@bsky.brid.gy

As an example, let’s take PopeHat, who is on BlueSky. His account is @kenwhite.bsky.social, or maybe just @kenwhite depending upon how you look at it. All you have to do is add “@bsky.brid.gy” to the BlueSky account name.

From Mastodon, that would be:

@kenwhite.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy

So if you use the Search box on Mastodon to look for:

@kenwhite.bsky.social@bsky.brid.gy

…you’ll find his account profile as seen from Mastodon. Then, you can follow him by clicking the “Follow” button, same as anyone else, and you’re good to go!

If you’re on BLUESKY:

Accounts on Mastodon generally look like this when seen from BlueSky, and I’m sorry but here we go:

@[MastodonUserName].[FullMastodonDomainWithDots].ap.brid.gy

As an example, let’s take me, on Mastodon. My account name is longer than most because when I set it up I was a little bit of a dumbass. It is @moira@mastodon.murkworks.net and on BlueSky, that turns into this:

@moira.mastodon.murkworks.net.ap.brid.gy

That’s unpleasant, and I’m under the impression that BlueSky search is not fond of such constructions sometimes (I could be wrong, someone let me know!), but it should get you a profile you can follow.

However, if it doesn’t, there’s still a way. You can turn that into a profile URL directly, by taking away the “@” sign and adding https://bsky.app/profile/ to the front, so it looks like this:

https://bsky.app/profile/moira.mastodon.murkworks.net.ap.brid.gy

That will get you the BlueSky version of my Mastodon profile, with a Follow button, which you can use, same as for anyone else. Click on it, and you’re done.

Sorry it’s a bit of a mess, it’s mostly that BlueSky really isn’t so very well set up to handle anything that isn’t BlueSky and while it’ll do it, it’s … a little muddled. One might even say complicated. BUT IT WORKS! So.

Anyway, if you have comments on how I can improve this, please drop ’em. Right now, both services have real advantages over the other, not the least of which being BlueSky’s still-easier startup path and smoother UI, but also not the least of which is that Mastodon is much better at handling non-Mastodon media sources being in your timeline.

(This blog is pretty readable on Mastodon. But on BlueSky, it’s like two lines, some ellipses and a URL. BlueSky posts are so short, honestly, how do you live like that? xD And no custom emojis and no groups and no private lists? People talk about Mastodon being less than complete – and to be clear, it is – but dang, team. xD )

So with Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads) changing to Maga and legalising mass harassment of LGBT people and misogyny targeting of women across all its services, if you’re in a mood not to reward that? Well, there’s more than one place you can go without losing all of your friends.

C’mon over. Shit ain’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better here than there.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

I’ve been calling for people to post pictures, video, whatever, of their towns when Herr Fuckface describes them as war zones, as hellholes, as whatever he pukes up this time. Particularly Chicago, and now, extra particularly Portland. But any blue city or state he lies about.

Post the truth.

On Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel requested people do that too, using the hashtag #ShowMeYourHellhole. They’ll look for and highlight some of those videos and contact you if they want to use it, so only use it on video you specifically want seen by as many people as possible.

Post your reality; use the hashtag to help other people see it, if you’re okay with the one in a million shot that they ask you to let them use it on Kimmel.

In reality, of course, they’ll mostly be checking YouTube and maybe other corporate social media, not cooperative spaces like the Federation. But he’s famous enough that if he calls for a hashtag, a lot of people will use it, and in this case, that’s no bad thing.

So – Portland. Chicago. Los Angeles. Memphis. DC. You in particular, but not just you…

…mods are asleep. Post your reality.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

Pamela Bondi went before Senate Oversight on Tuesday determined not to testify to Democrats, and to help Republicans deflect and defend the Trump regime’s fascism. That’s obvious; it happens fairly regularly.

But usually, people doing this routine at least pretend to answer the questions. They don’t provide answers, no, of course not. But they pretend and follow forms.

Bondi wasn’t even pretending. Her responses were unrelated, spurious – and as Senator Schiff put it, “pre-canned” – attacks on and insults of Democratic questioners, over and over again. We couldn’t be entirely sure of it at the moment, but Reuters managed to photograph her notes during her “testimony”, and now we absolutely know for sure they were prewritten.

Later, she started launching these prewritten lie clusters during questions, while Democratic senators were speaking. Here’s an example of her interrupting Senator Schiff over and over again with literal unrelated whatabouts and insults.

Eventually, I guess she ran out of pre-installed lie clusters, because she ran out during a response to a question from Senator Whitehouse and froze up. She literally couldn’t seem to talk.

It’s quite the clip. Watch her, she just shuts down. Here’s the moment she realised she didn’t have anything left so couldn’t come up with another lie cluster attack and just sits there, stalled out:

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) posting "has anybody ever been more obviously full of shit than Pam Bondi is at the end of this 20 second clip?" over a video of Pamela Bondi not saying anything with "An error occurred" superimposed over the image below her face.

(I swear to you – I swear to you – I did not add that caption over the video. It was a player issue. But I couldn’t not keep it, now could I?)

But I do think there was a point here, and it wasn’t just not answering questions while giving Republican Senators time to lie and deflect on behalf of the regime. That’s all too normal.

No, I think the intent was to show their utter contempt for the legislature. I think this a stupid version of Caligula’s expression of contempt for the Senate, when he said he was going to appoint his favourite horse as a member.

(He didn’t actually do it, legend aside. The record is reasonably clear on that. He just mocked them with the idea.)

At least Caligula’s version was funny. This, by contrast, is just sad. But sad or not, I do think there was a point, and that point was to display contempt for representative government and to metaphorically blow a horse’s fart in the faces of elected representatives.

And I think that’s something people should understand.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: our bike hill girl standing back to the camera facing her bike, which spans the image (biking)

Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 2.0.4 – 3 October 2025 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 2.0.4.

There are major additions in Seattle with the opening of two south Seattle routes (SODO to Georgetown, Georgetown most of the way to South Park), but the big alert is that the Central Kirkland Connector is closed from NE 68th to 108th Ave NE for emergency sewer work. This will probably be a two week project. Detours are posted both in person and on this map.

Here’s the complete changes list:

  • WARNING: CKC southern segment closed for emergency sewer repair. Detours are posted.
  • ADDED: SODO to Georgetown connection along 6th Ave S, Alaska, and Airport Way S. This isn’t technically done yet but it is open and people are actively riding it, so I’m adding it.
  • ADDED: Georgetown to South Park connection along Albro, Ellis, and E. Marginal Way, with existing bike lanes on 16th Ave S. More work is pending, via technically separate projects rolling out in early 2026.
  • ADDED: Significant changes to “commonly used” routes in eastern Mountlake Terrace, western Briar, and even a little NE Lake Forest Park as people find ways to the Mountlake Terrace light rail station. Thanks to @MHowell@kolektiva.social on Mastodon for pointing this out, I hadn’t noticed the shift yet.
  • ADDED: More people on bikes means more “commonly used” routes in Bothell worth having on the map, so multiple such routes have been added.
  • REMOVED: Final warning notice on Juanita Drive near Juanita Bay. The housing construction that has been extending into the roadway isn’t 100% complete but it’s close enough, it should be good.
  • REMOVED: The warning notice on the Interbay Trail near Terminal 9. The “bridge over nothing” (or “bridge to nowhere”) which two decades ago went over a driveway is finally gone, much like the driveway, just much much later.
Screen-resolution preview of MEGAMAP 2.0.4.
Screenshot

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because honestly it doesn’t.

Enjoy biking!

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

If anyone’s wondering whether US farmers exporting to China just need a little “temporary help” to get over Trump’s trade war, read this thread from farmer Sarah Taber on Mastodon. She’s a farmer from North Carolina and deeply involved in farming issues. Read all of the thread.

If you won’t, though – if know your US Civil War history, you might know about how the Confederacy self-embargoed cotton exports, withholding “King Cotton” from the market.

They thought it would grind textiles production in the UK to a halt and force the UK to come in on their side of the war.

What happened instead was Egyptian cotton.

Trump pulled his bullshit thinking China would bow to him over soybeans; what happened instead was Brazil and Argentina. They haven’t bought a single goddamn US soybean since last spring, as South America ramped production right the fuck up.

Soybeans were the US’s largest agricultural export.

Emphasis on were.

And arguably, it gets worse from there.

So seriously, go read the thread. It’s good, knowledgable shit.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

Fascist Trump’s allies are out today repeating the “cities are war zones” lie, so anybody in Chicago needs to get out there and starting posting pictures of their “war zone” just like Portland.

“Chicago’s a nightmare, it is literally a war zone” — Rand Paul

People you expect to know better will not, in fact know better. I’ve run into this too damn many times. People who you’d think wouldn’t bite on this bullshit absolutely will bite on this bullshit. So you need to reveal the lie through a massive flood of photographic evidence you vouch for personally, yourself.

Post your reality, Chicago. Everywhere. Starting right now.

(video with relevant quote via Aaron Rupar)

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

Before things get a lot worse, which it looks like they’re about to do given Trump’s “full force” order and his “anti-fascism is terrorism” executive memo, I need to reiterate:

It’s lies. This shit about Portland? It’s all lies.

The lies about Seattle were lies too. Particularly reviving the old lie that “they” “took over a significant percentage of the city” back in 2020. Remember when I posted a map showing the three blocks and a park that were the entire protest zone? And how it was 0.0something percent of the city? How it was basically the equivalent of a guy and a yappy dog on the corner of a Walmart parking lot, and how on a full map of the city the red rectangle was literally too small to see?

Remember that?

It’s lies about Portland now. I know people in Portland. I know people who are in Portland RIGHT NOW, for the weekend.

It. Is. All. Lies.

If you don’t believe me, believe Tess Vigeland, a Wall Street Journal senior producer who lives in Portland. The Wall Street Journal is not exactly a “left” publication and doesn’t exactly employ “radical leftists.” I quote her here in entirety:

“He is lying. They are lying. They are literally making this shit up. I live four blocks from the ICE facility they say is a “war zone.” I pass it every single day on my way home. There are, on average, maybe 30 protesters who’ve camped out (they have a small grill) and set up tents. Sometimes more show up on the weekend. They use bullhorns to shout invective at the building and it’s been awful for the residents who live across the street and noise laws should be enforced. But the notion that this city of 600,000 people is a war zone is completely laughable. CNN has a photo from September 1st on its story about this that makes it seem like the city is, indeed, under siege (and that’s part of the problem, images that don’t tell a complete story). But the idea that they needed that kind of show of force is insane. Would I like the protesters to go away? As a neighbor, yup. Do they have the right to set up a tent city outside the facility? Probably — but again, it’s annoying. Does Portland have myriad problems that a maddeningly ineffective local government seems unable to solve no matter how much tax money we throw at it? Yup. But does any of it call for federal troops fanning out across the city? Absolutely not. It’s stupid. This is all for show by an authoritarian administration that knows its base will applaud because oooooh lookie a liberal city getting its due. (I have relatives who will applaud this, by the way.) But they’re lying. They’re all LYING.”

Tess Vigeland, The Wall Street Journal

If you don’t believe her? There are plenty of webcams. Here’s Pioneer Square in downtown Portland as I write this right now:

A still image grabbed from the linked webcam of a lightly-populated salmon-coloured stone public square in downtown Portland, Oregon, with a variety of banners up and tables out in early autumn.

I won’t even point you to more webcams. Use DuckDuckGo or something. Find them on your own. It’s easy.

Find any cam you want. Look at them for yourself. Tell any Trumpy relatives you have to do the same thing. Look. See.

They. Are. All. Lying.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

A couple of days ago, I wrote about writing Disney a letter – a physical, paper letter, with an ENVELOPE and a STAMP – and went into why those are so. damned. scary. to companies, particularly these days.

Tonight, I’m writing a letter – a physical, paper letter, with an envelope and a stamp – to the local Sinclair propaganda outlet, KOMO-4, over their continued blockade against Kimmel.

I’m not telling them I’m going to boycott them, no. They’re a free/over-the-air station. I don’t pay them. I don’t pay them a dime, why would they care if I boycott them?

Obviously, they wouldn’t.

So instead, I’m telling them I’m going to boycott their local sponsors, and I’m going to write those local sponsors a physical, paper letter, one with an ENVELOPE and a STAMP, and make sure those local sponsors know why.

For every obvious reason, I (and 50501 Seattle) encourage you to do the same. If you’re not in KOMO’s range, that’s fine, find your local Sinclair station and write them, instead.

Business-format letter to Sinclair and KOMO telling them this isn't how this goes, with a ruler covering my signature and an envelope covering my address. I'd paste the letter's text in, but there's not enough room in this alt-text box. Hopefully OCR can read it for you.

(But write your own letter, don’t copy mine. They check for that.)

KOMO received enough protest calls today – Tuesday, September 23rd, as I write this – that they shut down their phone system. They went dark.

They can turn off their phones. They can delete their voicemail. And they have, and they did.

So write ’em a gods. damned. letter.

CONTACT KOMOADDRESS:KOMO News/KUNS Suite 370 (Monday - Friday)140 4th Ave. N.Seattle, WA 98109BUSINESS HOURS: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PMMAIN PHONE: 206.404.4000 MAIN FAX:206.706.2603NEWS TIPLINE: 877.397.5666NEWS DIRECTOR:206.404.4000GENERAL SALES:206.404.4353GENERAL MANAGER:206.404.4000KOMO TV NEWSROOM:206.404.4145PROBLEM SOLVERS TIP LINE:888.774.8477KOMO 4 INVESTIGATORS:206.404.4444

Let’s see ’em shut off USPS delivery.

(Spoiler: they can’t. 😀 )

(eta: Here’s a very good resource thread on Reddit – advertisers, responses, more)

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

WRITE DISNEY A LETTER TODAY.

Not email, don’t @ them on social media – or do that, that’s fine, but it’s not a substitute. It’s not as good. Do that too, but mostly…

WRITE DISNEY A LETTER. On PAPER. Put it in an ENVELOPE and MAIL IT.

Yeah, they’ll think you’re old. They’ll also think you have 1) money and 2) probably have children, more likely grandkids.

Now, grandparents love to spend money on grandkids, and if you say Disney’s not getting one goddamn dime until and unless they walk this back, they will care.

Particularly if enough of us do it.

See, paper letters are scary. They mean you aren’t momentarily angry, you’re determinedly angry. Paper letters mean you care enough to write this shit down by hand or get a printer working and print something. You’re so mad you got ahold of printer paper or stationery. You even care enough to get an envelope and a stamp and take something to a post office, or at least a post box.

You’re mad, and it’s not just a momentary twitch of reactive anger. You mean it.

And all that above means that paper letters are effective. So.

WRITE DISNEY A LETTER. ON PAPER. And send it HERE:

Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-3515

That’s what I did today.

A business-format letter to Disney-ABC about their censorship of Jimmy Kimmel, likening it to Putin's destruction of independent Russian media, with my return address and signature hidden.

Your turn.

Oh, and, use your own words, not mine. Duplicates are bad. And at least one upon a time, they would watch for that. You can hit the same beats, just … write your own. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, it just has to make sense.

Go.

Do.

Write Disney a letter.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: our bike hill girl standing back to the camera facing her bike, which spans the image (biking)

Greater Northshore MEGAMAP 2.0.3 – 19 September 2025 – is now available on github.

As there are no changes in the core Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map – the north-end-only map – no new version has been generated. Latest release for that map stands at 2.0.2, and it is up to date.

Changes in this release:

  • REMOVED: Thomas Street Bridge warning sign, since the bridge re-opened on schedule
  • ADDED: 15th Ave to Beacon Ave S protected bike lanes are finally open! This connects the International District all the way down to Jefferson Park and S. Spokane St.
A screen-resolution preview of MEGAMAP 2.0.3, with its tiny number of changes.

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because honestly it doesn’t.

Enjoy biking!

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

I would like to wish all the people who fought with me and sneered at me about how Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris were no better than Donald Trump and sat out the election and encouraged others to do the same a very happy DRINK SOME FUCKING BLEACH:

FBI Readies New War on Trans People
“We’re looking at the entire web”
Ken Klippenstein
Sep 18, 2025

The Trump administration is preparing to designate transgender people as “violent extremists” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder, two national security officials tell me.

Under the plan being discussed, the FBI would treat transgender suspects as a subset of the Bureau’s new threat category, “Nihilistic Violent Extremists” (NVEs).

This is, yes, OBVIOUSLY, a duplication of Putin’s moves to designate target groups as “extremist organisations,” whether there’s an organisation or not, as “LGBT” was designated a couple of years ago, leading to the de facto re-illegialisation of LGBT people and large scale prosecutions.

Every other kind of queer is probably gonna be next.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

I do not believe it’s a minor thing that Greg “let’s reclaim the word Nazi” Gutfield is repurposing Hitler’s “Jewish hypnotism” libel against trans people to transfer guilt from a cis white boy from a conservative family:

“[The shooter] was a patsy. He was under the hypnotic spell of a direct to consumer nihilism – the trans cult.”

Greg Gutfield on Fox

There are plenty of other full-on-fascist declarations in this rant, too, not the least of which being the open declaration that they “don’t care” about “what-abouts,” which is to say, the overwhelming share of violence being from the right, or, in this case, the literal assassination of two Democratic state officials earlier this summer by a MAGA supporter with an extended list of targets. Those don’t count, because Democrats. Only MAGA are people, only MAGA have rights, only Trump can be king.

But it’s still important, and the one I think people may miss. This is, again, literally Hitler libel from a many who proposed “reclaiming” the word “Nazi” this summer.

If he wants the word so much, let’s apply it to him.

Greg Gutfield is a Nazi.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

The grim times we’ve been expecting are here.

Congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX) calls trans people a virus and a cancer that must be censored, isolated, and imprisoned en masse. It’s a call for genocide, or – as they said during the election – for “eradication.”

Laura Loomer, an important Trump confidante and aide, calls for a Trump dictatorship and mass arrests and prosecution of “leftists” (which for her absolutely includes liberals):

Laura Loomer on X:"I was thinking about this over the last few nights while I couldn't sleep.I have to say, I do want President Trump to be the 'dictator' the Left thinks he is, and I want the right to be as devoted to locking up and silencing our violent political enemies as they pretend we are.I've had enough of the Left only thinking we will defund them, prosecute them, lock them up and dismantle their power for generations to come.It just needs to happen."7:23AM - September 13, 2025

Trump and MAGA are following Putin’s playbook on the media, pushing it either into the hands of ideological compatriots or into silence:

Senator Adam Schiff on X:"Kimmel. Colbert. Suits against the New York TImes, Wall Street Journal, and 60 minutes. Extorting settlements from CBS, ABC, and others. Blocking the AP's access to the White House. This administration is responsible for the most blatant attacks on the free press in American history. What will be left of the First Amendment when he's done?"

Correct commentary from Mastodon:

Kimmel is about as controversial as a goldfish here. They aren’t serious about it being a problem; the whole •point• is that it’s obviously •not• a problem.

They are using something extremely benign to test the waters of government repression of speech, to see just how much they can get away with — and ABC caved like 3rd-grade toothpick bridge.

It’s relevant that there are mergers in process and it’s clear that Trump would fuck with them if they didn’t pull Kimmel down:

Nexstar Media Group, which is seeking FCC approval for a multi-billion-dollar merger with Tegna, said its ABC affiliates would not air Kimmel’s show before ABC announced its own decision.

Even Karl fucking Rove thinks they’ve gone too far, but that won’t stop them, or even slow them down:

‘They’ Didn’t Kill Charlie Kirk. It insults his memory to blame political opponents for one man’s heinous act.

Meanwhile, Trump demands federal investigations into ‘organized’ Trump protesters – this is also out of Putin’s playbook:

Earlier this week, responding to a conservative reporter who said that anti-war protesters near the White House “still have their First Amendment right,” Trump replied, “Yeah, well, I’m not so sure.”

It’s against this backdrop that Politico reported [that] the Justice Department’s No. 2 official said Tuesday that people noisily protesting President Donald Trump could face investigation if they’re part of broader networks organizing such activities.

Worth reading: Keep An Eye on What We Know (And Don’t) – 15 September 2025 – TPM:

In the current environment I think it’s fair to say there’s really no reason to believe anything we’re hearing from federal law enforcement, either formally or on background to reporters.

Worth reading: Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause – 16 September 2025 – Vanity Fair / Ta-Nehisi Coates:

It is not just, for instance, that Kirk held disagreeable views—that he was pro-life, that he believed in public executions, or that he rejected the separation of church and state. It’s that Kirk reveled in open bigotry.

Finally, an article and a concept that’s been gaining traction: It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About “Soft Secession”:

Not the violent rupture of 1861, but something else entirely. Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders.

See also: In the disunited states, conflict and uncertainty rule, which also brings up “Soft Secession,” and I’ve seen people holding signs up about it at protests since the original column came out.

I feel I don’t really have to say, “shit’s bad, folks,” but, well – shit’s bad, folks. If there’s a protest near you, find it, and join it.

They can’t arrest literally everyone, and Trump does chicken out – the only response you can have to him is push back as hard as you can, every time.

And that means right now.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

Charlie Kirk was a vicious racist, misogynist, and anti-queer activist working to recruit anyone he could into his beliefs, someone who wanted LGBT people killed, who considered empathy a “new age” weakness and believed – and said outright – that any Black woman holding any position was too intellectually inferior to have it and so “stole” it from a white man.

And making all that into a durable political career became his life’s work.

Fuck Charlie Kirk. I’m glad he’s dead.

That he said and did all this vileness while dressed in a nice suit and in calm tones changes not one single goddamn thing, a fact which fucking nearly nobody has learned in over decades of the christofascist right performing the same. goddamn. routine. Say the most vicious, nasty, filthy, false accusations, slander and defame like a motherfucker, slime everything you can reach with contemptable evil, but do it all as a “gadfly” white heterosexual Christian man in a suit in careful tones and suddenly you’re “doing politics right.”

Fuck that, and for good measure, fuck Charlie Kirk.

He also openly desired bringing back public executions and said that children should watch them, and guess what?

He got his wish.

Somehow, though, pointing that out makes me the bad guy. Hilarious.

As always, his fellow-travellers were all-in on blaming trans people until it turned out his assassin was a groyper, a fan of human shitstain Nick Fuentes who hated Charlie Kirk for not being racist enough and misogynist enough. Kirk moving even further towards the fash in immigrant hate and anti-Black racism kept the peace between the two groups for a few years, but, well, Kirk saw the handwriting on the wall about the Epstein files and pushed for their release, and that was that.

“Oh noes, what are we to do about fascist on fascist violence?!” How about nothing. Yeah. Nothing sounds good. Or, I dunno, honour his last wish and release the Epstein files? That’d be nice.

But of course, I kid. Ha.

What is it, what is it, what’s the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you? Well, an asshole did unto him exactly what he wanted done unto others, and I think that’s close enough.

So one last time: fuck you, Charlie Kirk. And you too, Fuentes, for good measure. And fuck you too, Gavin Newsom and anyone else who follows your example for eulogising and whitewashing this evil vicious fucker’s repugnant malignancy of a legacy.

He only got exactly what he wanted for people like me.

The irony, it is not delicious.

But it is, I think, entirely deserved.

Source. Source. Source.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

I hate linking to The Hill, but here we go:

RFK Jr. says agency will reveal causes of autism in September

No, he fucking won’t. He literally shut down actual studies working on such things, because as with all fundamentalist-approach cardboard science, anything he does is driven by producing the answer he wants, not any answer that’s actually real.

So given all that, here’re a few key lies about “causes” I think we can expect:

  • “Overvaccination,” which isn’t a thing; it’s just a wedge to start rolling back vaccination in favour of “wellness” horseshit and pseudoscience that doesn’t fucking work;
  • High-fructose corn syrup, which in its most common formulation – for those who don’t remember – is chemically identical to honey. There’s literally not a way to tell filtered honey apart from 55/45 HFCS. This is also why filtered honey is fucking awful; once you filter out the water and the pollen remnants you don’t have any flavour other than sweetness.

    (This may be substituted out for artificial colours and/or flavours, he’s got bugaboos about those too.)

    And finally:
  • Hormone-based contraception.

Yeah. I think there’s a pretty good chance they’ll go there. I can’t be sure – this is all speculation, I assure you – but it’s been floated around in christofascism on and off for a while. Not as strongly as other lies about “the pill” (christ they’re so old) causing breast cancer (again: a lie), and being an abortifacient (again: a lie). So why not here? Why not go for it?

It has the added bonus of blaming the woman, which is another thing they always want to do.

Maybe I’ll be wrong. Maybe they won’t. But he used one word in particular that makes me think I’m right. That word is “interventions,” as in “interventions” that cause autism. That’s a word I’ve heard plenty of times before when fundamentalists talk about birth control, and also by the new age crowd that merged in with them, calling hormonal birth control an “unnatural intervention.” In other words, both upstream forks of his anti-vax “wellness” following have a history of using that word to describe hormonal birth control.

And here it is again. That word. “Intervention.”

Really could be a coincidence; really, genuinely could. That word is used by a lot of actual medical people for good and real medical treatments; it’s not one of their own made-up words.

But … they really do have a history of using it that way. And the orange fuckfash muttered on about “a drug or something” as the intervention at work, so… yeah.

I’m smelling an attack on birth control.

They’ve really been wanting to go at it, and given the increased… severity in tone… that we’re seeing out of the fascists, it feels like they’re slamming the metaphorical pedal to the metaphorical metal, and they might just go ahead and go for it.

Stock up on your meds, folks. Clock’s ticking.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: our bike hill girl standing back to the camera facing her bike, which spans the image (biking)

Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 2.0.2 – 4 August 2025 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 2.0.2.

Mostly small updates again this time, but there’s one big one – the Redmond Central Connector final segment connecting to the East Rail Trail at NE 124th is already open! Ribbon cutting isn’t ’til September 12th, and I imagined it’d open early but I didn’t expect it to be this early.

  • ADDED: Redmond Central Connector extension up to Eastrail at NE 124th is open earlier than expected! (Both maps)
  • ADDED: Warning flag: the Pier 91 section of Elliot Bay Trail will close from 2 September to 2 October for repaving and rebuilding, including getting replacing that weird steep over-rail bridge. There WILL be a posted detour, but it’s kinda long and involves Magnolia Bridge, so I’m flagging it. (MEGAMAP only)
  • ADDED: A block-long half-dirt connector between Ashworth and Densmore continuing N 157th for pedestrians and bicyclists willing to deal with a dirt path (both maps)
  • ADDED: Extension of a Shoreline Trail Along the Rail fragment south of NE 185th all the way down to NE 180th; at previous check, it didn’t quite connect, and now it does (both maps)
  • CORRECTION: 10th Ave NE from 155th to 185th was listed as UNMARKED BUT POPULAR, but has sharrow markings, so will be re-marked as SHARROWS (both maps)
Screen-resolution preview of the Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because honestly it doesn’t.

Enjoy biking!

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (sb-worldcon-cascadia)

we didn’t plan to go to worldcon

like, at all

even though it was fucken here, right downtown

because until a few months ago it was going to be utterly impossible, economically (we’ve only really dug out of a two-year financial crisis just now, just the last month or so)

and also because of the pandemic and how that’s never fully ended (check out how people who study long-term covid do conferences and tell me again it’s over)

and also because I have some ambivalence about it anyway, despite all the work I’ve done on cons including a couple of worldcon bids, a NASFiC, a couple of v-cons, and arguably way, way too many norwescons (because of the way the latter fell out when i was finally done there)

and also because, well, look the fuck around you, fascism everywhere and month to month reanalysis of whether we have to leave the fucking country (and the depression which inevitably falls out from that)

and so on

but it starts today, and we didn’t plan to go because we literally couldn’t

and yeah

i’m pretty sad about that.

i have work today, anna has work today, tomorrow, and friday. sunday’s the last day and probably a half day like they usually are. i guess that leaves saturday for… something? anything? i don’t even know. i was gonna do the tesla takedown protest, like usual. maybe i still will. but after that…

anybody gonna be around?

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (gun good job)

Holy hell. The Tesla Truck is such a complete fucking sales disaster that he’s getting a corrupt deal with the military to buy them as targets.

I repeat:

THE TESLA TRUCK IS SUCH A COMPLETE FAILURE THAT THEY’RE SELLING THEM TO THE MILITARY AS TARGETS FOR TARGET PRACTICE.

Only a couple at first. Still, no doubt it’ll be at full price or some shit. Gotta claw those losses back somehow, right? Try this, see who complains.

Regardless, “OFFICIAL US MILITARY TARGET” stickers for Teslas, y/y?

Also, I may need to make yet another new sign for the Tesla Takedown protests because holy shit xD

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: our bike hill girl standing back to the camera facing her bike, which spans the image (biking)

Greater Northshore Bike Connector Map 2.0 – 4 August 2025 – is now available on github, as is MEGAMAP 2.0.1.

Mostly small updates this time, but one in particular is very important, and another is pretty important if you’re in Shoreline:

  • ADDED: Alaskan Way Connector linking Elliot Bay Trail to Waterfront Trail with fully separated bikeways. Decades in the making, finally here (MEGAMAP only)
  • ADDED: Painted bike lanes on Meridian Ave N in Shoreline between 155th and 175th streets (both maps)
  • ADDED: “Commonly used” markers on Meridian Ave N throughout Shoreline (both maps) – this is somewhat aspirational, as there has been use of this road as a secondary to tertiary bike arterial but not quite enough to justify marking it as such until now. I am fairly certain that the new bike lanes in the middle of the route will increase its utility enough to justify it (both maps)
  • ADDED: “Commonly used” makers on a section of Fremont Ave in Shoreline, because that section is used a little more than parts of Meridian which now carry that marking, and one should be consistent (both maps)
  • ADDED: A weird little section of bike path I found in Lynnwood north of 196th at Wilcox Park. As 196th loses its sidewalks in that area, even this standalone oddness serves a useful purpose if you’re having to sidewalk-bike on 196th, say, to get to Gregg’s Cycles (MEGAMAP only)
  • ADDED: A few more street names in City of Seattle, along with a couple of small adjustments on difficult streets (both maps)
  • CORRECTION: REI Lynnwood’s icon was placed very slightly left of its actual location, and has been adjusted (MEGAMAP only)
Screen resolution preview of MEGAMAP 2.0.1 - 4 August 2025

All permalinks continue to work.

If you enjoy these maps and feel like throwing some change at the tip jar, here’s my patreon. Patreon supports get things like pre-sliced printables of the Greater Northshore, and also the completely-uncompressed MEGAMAP, not that the .jpg has much compression in it because honestly it doesn’t.

Enjoy biking!

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: (korra-on-the-air)

Hey NORTHSHORE VOTERS!

If you’re in the Northshore School District voting area, please be aware there are two school district elections, and each of those elections includes an anti-trans candidate you need to vote against!

One’s relatively quiet about it but if you get to the bottom of their voter pamphlet statement they talk about keeping “fair competition” and keeping girls and boys separate, and if it’s not obvious to you that that’s anti-trans code language, well, it is.

The second anti-trans candidate in the other election is just straight out with it, and by the way, fags in general are evil and and and and.

Vote against both. There are two other candidates you can choose from, pick the one you prefer.

If you don’t usually bother voting for school boards, THIS IS THE TIME TO START VOTING FOR SCHOOL BOARDS.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

solarbird: Brigitte Lindholm from Overwatch (brigitte)

Seattle Cider dropped a cosmic-crisp single variety cider, so I had a sample this weekend at their booth at the Lake Forest Park Farmer’s Market.

My expectations were pretty low, honestly, because the cosmic crisp is what I think of as an adequate apple, but no better. It functions as an apple, it fulfills the role of apple, the texture is reliable and the flavour is acceptable, but there are many which are better at being what it tries to be. Fuji and honeycrisp both come immediately to mind as similar but better cultivars, but which are not as durable in shipping.

(This isn’t to condemn the cosmic crisp; the last apple to occupy its particular market slot was the loathsome red delicious, a mealy, tasteless apple-shaped object which fulfilled the function of looking like an apple, but not that of being an apple. The cosmic crisp is far superior, something I will eat intentionally and – in the case of a better example – actually enjoy.)

So after saying more or less all the above to the Seattle Cider rep, and adding that making a cider from it seemed fairly unlikely, I gave it a try.

It’s the pilsner of the apple cider world – but it’s a pretty decent pilsner.

I don’t mean to say that it tastes like a pilsner; it doesn’t. I don’t even like beer, and pilsners are not exceptions. But I know some of the roles of different beers, and this cider lands right in the same spot. It’s light, but in defiance of my expectations, it’s not empty. It has a presence. It’s the sort of cider you’d actively enjoy in the shade during a very hot day, probably after you’ve been doing something athletic.

In that way, it reminds me a bit of Growers, made up in BC, which lands in roughly the same weight location.

Like the cosmic crisp isn’t a great apple, this isn’t a great cider. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a pleasant or enjoyable cider. Kind of like – and yet moreso than – the cosmic crisp, I think it’s a cider that has an actual role, one other than doing a good job at surviving shipping.

It’s supposed to be hot this week. If not this week, we’re heading into August.

I bought a bottle. We’ll see.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.

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