ceastman73

[ceastman73]

This was A Thing in the Victorian era - people would get bronze models of their hands made, maybe to show how rich they were or something. I know this because there was one in my grandmother's house. The wonderful aunt who now owns it (she thinks it's funny) has asked me if I want it when she dies, and I have respectfully but firmly declined.

If I were to take it, I would turn it into a fake Hand of Glory (you can set the piece on the end of its wrist, fingers pointing up).

You can see an example of these statues here.

@hellenhighwater this seems like your sort of thing

(double image fixed)

Me: *looking at a porcelain hand in the home decor aisle of a store* if I lost my hands in some kind of tragic accident, I’d decorate my entire home with hand-shaped things. Then I’d invite guests over for like, dinner parties and such and sit there expectantly just basking in their discomfort.

My boyfriend: Do you hear what you say when you talk? Do you know what you just said to me?

[ceastman73]

The other night husband and I were watching a documentary about the yeti where they were doing DNA analysis of samples of supposed yeti fur, and every one of them came back as bears.

Anyway, the next night we watched a thing about some pig man who is supposed to live in Vermont. People said it had claws and a pig nose but walked upright like a man. Now, I happen to know that sideshows used to shave bears and present them as pig men. So every piece of evidence they gave of this monster sounds to me like a bear with mange.

So now the running joke in our house is that everything is bears. Aliens? Bears. Loch Ness monster? Bear. Every cryptozoological mystery is just a very crafty bear.

Bears. They’re everywhere. Be wary. Anyone or anything could be a bear.

[ceastman73]

I know many folks here aren't in the market for purchasing electric vehicles or heat pumps, but if you are, you might want to make your purchase sooner rather than later. One of the things the Big Bullying Bill does is to end tax credits for these items at the end of September and December, respectively. (Scroll down or search for energy tax credits here for a quick summary.)

[ceastman73]

Another post about the government etc

So I'm yet another person who's deeply upset about (most recently) the Big Bullying Bill's (startlingly quick) passage yesterday. I was not AT ALL in a mood to celebrate the virtues of our country and its history.

So what did I do?

I went to my town's Fourth of July parade.

And I carried my protest sign.

I was a little nervous when I came up with this idea last night. I wasn't going to be part of a mass protest with thousands of people. I was going to be a single person exercising their right to peaceful protest. I wouldn't yell, I wouldn't intentionally block anyone's view of the parade, and I would move along if anyone asked me to. I hoped that at least people would be polite; I live in a fairly liberal area, so I wasn't too scared. But I was deliberately bringing a jarring message into what was ordinarily a fun family affair.

I unintentionally got to the parade route a bit early, but that worked out great. I could stroll through the crowds who were hanging about waiting for the parade to start, and I didn't have to worry about blocking views of the parade because there wasn't one yet. I was a mostly-silent parade of one.

The non-positive reactions were relatively rare, and I was very good about minimal engagement with them. (Interestingly, all the non-supportive people were, without exception, white men. Other white men wholeheartedly approved of my sign, so it's not meant as a universal condemnation!) Many non-positive comments were along the lines of "your rights haven't gone anywhere." I didn't reply. Someone in The Republican Party of [Redacted] County saw my sign and started going on about how the Republican party is the party of civil rights - Lincoln freed the slaves, the Republican party was pro-women's voting rights. I did not rejoin with either the question of "those were both over a hundred years ago, what do you think of the budget bill?" or the fact that back then, the Republican party was the liberal party (1, 2). It infuriated me that they were using this kind of misinformation, but I didn't engage. One guy asked me what my sign meant (it said "Take Back Civil Rights"). I suspected baiting, and asked him if he'd paid attention to politics recently. He gave me a big shit-eating grin and said no. I simply replied that I suggested he go educate himself, and moved on. Finally, one particularly "mature" and "clever" gent informed me that I looked retarded. I almost laughed, but did not engage and just moved on without comment. Sir, that's not a response to my position. That's an ad hominem attack, and not even a particularly creative one.

But folks. Folks. These non-supportive reactions were FAR outweighed by the positive reactions that I got. People smiled or gave me thumbs-up. People said thank you or gave me fist bumps. Once the parade got going, some of the participants in the parade shouted that they liked my sign when they saw it. One woman came up to me to thank me personally for being so bold - she'd worn a shirt that quietly proclaimed her Native American heritage. Another came up and gave me a hug, saying she hadn't known what to do yesterday.

It even turned out that I was not the only one. I came across a woman carrying a sign of her own (even angrier and more direct than mine: "Free America") and she indicated that there was at least one more protester in the crowd.

I'm so glad I went and did that. It felt cathartic for myself, wonderful to get as much support back as I did, and amazing to feel like I'd inspired or brought a bit of hope or truth to people who needed it.

[ceastman73]

I have a shirt that is Too Pink, and needs some embroidery to break up the solid color. I'm going to put various butterflies and combos from this set over at Urban Threads, and I just tested a bunch of embroiderey floss colors for the designs. I think I will skip the very darkest pink and the two pinks that you can barely tell are there, and the green at the end, but everything else is fair game.

[Image 1 description: A hot pink fabric with short lines of sewing in various colors: light blue, two light pinks, two dark pinks, three shades of peach/salmon, three light purples, a medium purple, and a light green. This photo was taken on the sewing bed under fluorescent lighting.]

[Image 2 description: The same subject, photo taken in sunlight.]

[ceastman73]

Thomas makes sure I stay on task.

(Description: A colorful quilt is being quilted at a sewing machine. tuxedo cat, sitting on a blanket atop the quilt, peers intently at the sewing mechanism.)

[ceastman73]

I swear I'll post something cool and artistic one of these days

But instead I'm putting up another serious plea to call your senators (in this case) and ask them to vote against the budget bill, HR1. (Oh, and if your House reps are Democrats, call and thank them for trying to sink it in the first place.) Deets below.

One of the many appalling things in the bill (and there's no shortage) is a regulation undermining the ability of judges to hold 47 et al in contempt of court. (Which they absolutely are, in a large number of cases.)

If the thing passes, there will surely be legal tussles about it (as well as about multiple other significant issues in it). Please consider calling your US Senators and leaving a message urging them to vote against H.R.1. It's no more than a few minutes of your time, and it's not scary. Usually it's just leaving a voicemail. This site has good info and a good script to use.

Please. I know it's repetitive getting asks from all over the place to support this or that good cause, or condemn this or that horrible thing. This is yet another attempt to crown 47 and turn the US into a fascist state.

[ceastman73]

Definitely call your representatives as well and let them know you're pissed.

hey! we thought this might be coming and here it is. and it sucks! mass vaccination is one of our best tools at preventing the spread of COVID. public comment is open until 11:59 PM EDT on the 23rd of May.

you can leave a comment here:

you can leave an anonymous comment, but usually non-anonymous ones do carry more weight.

[ceastman73]

The recent announcement restricting availability of the COVID vaccine to certain age groups and risk factors is absurd. What about people who want to protect those they live with? What about those who care for the elderly? What about those who want to reduce their risk for Long Covid? What about those who just don't want to get sick, dammit?

The public comment period at the FDA on this issue is open for the next three days. Please circulate widely!

[ceastman73]

“Some years ago, I was stuck on a crosstown bus in New York City during rush hour. Traffic was barely moving. The bus was filled with cold, tired people who were deeply irritated—with one another; with the rainy, sleety weather; with the world itself. Two men barked at each other about a shove that might or might not have been intentional. A pregnant woman got on, and nobody offered her a seat. Rage was in the air; no mercy would be found here.

But as the bus approached Seventh Avenue, the driver got on the intercom. “Folks,” he said, “I know you’ve had a rough day and you’re frustrated. I can’t do anything about the weather or traffic, but here’s what I can do. As each one of you gets off the bus, I will reach out my hand to you. As you walk by, drop your troubles into the palm of my hand, okay? Don’t take your problems home to your families tonight—just leave ‘em with me. My route goes right by the Hudson River, and when I drive by there later, I’ll open the window and throw your troubles in the water. Sound good?”

It was as if a spell had lifted. Everyone burst out laughing. Faces gleamed with surprised delight. People who’d been pretending for the past hour not to notice each other’s existence were suddenly grinning at each other like, is this guy serious?

Oh, he was serious.

At the next stop—just as promised—the driver reached out his hand, palm up, and waited. One by one, all the exiting commuters placed their hand just above his and mimed the gesture of dropping something into his palm. Some people laughed as they did this, some teared up—but everyone did it. The driver repeated the same lovely ritual at the next stop, too. And the next. All the way to the river.

We live in a hard world, my friends. Sometimes it’s extra difficult to be a human being. Sometimes you have a bad day. Sometimes you have a bad day that lasts for several years. You struggle and fail. You lose jobs, money, friends, faith, and love. You witness horrible events unfolding in the news, and you become fearful and withdrawn. There are times when everything seems cloaked in darkness. You long for the light but don’t know where to find it.

But what if you are the light? What if you’re the very agent of illumination that a dark situation begs for?

That’s what this bus driver taught me—that anyone can be the light, at any moment. This guy wasn’t some big power player. He wasn’t a spiritual leader. He wasn’t some media-savvy “influencer.” He was a bus driver—one of society’s most invisible workers. But he possessed real power, and he used it beautifully for our benefit.

When life feels especially grim, or when I feel particularly powerless in the face of the world’s troubles, I think of this man and ask myself, What can I do, right now, to be the light? Of course, I can’t personally end all wars, or solve global warming, or transform vexing people into entirely different creatures. I definitely can’t control traffic. But I do have some influence on everyone I brush up against, even if we never speak or learn each other’s name. How we behave matters because within human society everything is contagious—sadness and anger, yes, but also patience and generosity. Which means we all have more influence than we realize.

No matter who you are, or where you are, or how mundane or tough your situation may seem, I believe you can illuminate your world. In fact, I believe this is the only way the world will ever be illuminated—one bright act of grace at a time, all the way to the river.“

–Elizabeth Gilbert

[ceastman73]

Well fucks? Get to it!

[ceastman73]

Could you maybe reblog this post if you think respecting trans peoples' names and identities is a basic right and not a political opinion?

No pressure. Just seeking some validation of my sentiment. Due to some. people

[ceastman73]

I have donated to this charity a couple of times, in acknowledgement that not everyone has decent medical insurance. The most recent donation was after a brief hospital stay that, if we'd had to pay it ourselves at insurance cost, would have been nearly twenty thousand dollars, and if we'd paid hospital list price, would have been upwards of $50,000.

We shouldn't have a system that allows costs this stupid to be borne by the consumer in the first place, but here we are. Undue Medical Debt is remarkable, and every dollar you give them is multiplied 10-fold in helping alleviate the medical debt of real people.

There are lots of very worthy causes out there to give to. This is another one.

[ceastman73]

Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits

Reblog this on the first of the month for good luck all month long!

[ceastman73]

I have donated to Undue Medical Debt a couple of times this past year, when my insurance paid for everything. I am lucky; many MANY others are not. Seriously, even a tiny bit helps a lot.

btw while people continue to fight the system don't forget about Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt), a charity that buys and forgives medical debt. on average a donation of $10 will forgive $1,000 of medical debt.

[ceastman73]

Wait, you were actually born in the 1900's? Thats so cool

i am going to eat my own entire skin

[ceastman73]

MESSAGE TO ALL BITCHES: WE ARE SURVIVING THIS YEAR NO MATTER WHAT.