#local::lib

[formosusiniquis]

steddie library meet cute where they meet in the sf-f section of the local library, steve is squinting so hard to read the tiny call number sticker looking for the book he's wanting he trips over Eddie and his goblin stack of books.

They laugh, apologize, and exchange numbers. As he's leaving Eddie tells Steve the letter of the call number he's looking for is actually on the other side of shelves.

They go home and tell their respective platonic lesbians all about the cute boy they met who is also into their genre of choice.

Only oops Steve can't stand fantasy, thinks it's either a slog of power struggles that use dragons to keep it out of the historical fiction section or adventures that rely on or forget about magic so they can have their day saving magic ex machine moment.

And Eddie thinks science fiction is dull. A genre that tries to use technology to flirt with the magic of magic, only to spend hundreds of pages telling you why it's bad. He knows why we shouldn't invent the torment nexus why does there need to be 1200 books about it.

They text for days, nonstop and somehow this little detail never comes up. Movies, TV, video games, personal shit, they know where they met they don't feel like they need to rehash the book talk. And they have so much in common, their differences complimentary.

It feels like true love.

They set up a date in person. One of them, when the date comes they don't remember which one suggested it, says wouldn't it be fun to bring our three favorite books. We can trade them, what a fun way to get to know the other.

Eddie expects to have a laugh when they bring the same things.Steve thinks Eddie is so worldly, he'll get a chance to read some niche thing he's never heard and and Eddie will hopefully be charmed by the stack of genre staples he's probably already read.

Only the date comes and Eddie has his high fantasy masterclass sat next to him and Steve a stack of space-opera doorstops.

It should be a comical miscommunication, but somehow it turns into an argument. Feeling betrayed and like the other has been lying about everything the whole time. Cause how can they really have that much in common if that is their favorite genre.

Never fear, after leaving and pouting and secretly looking up the books in the stack their would-be romantic soulmate brought. They reunite at the library, both reaching for the same horror new release to add to their stack of books they missed out on.

They share a laugh and decide to try again.

[archaeos]

I am going to start biting.

[girderednerve]

stop the presses, i read a book. on paper, even

okay don't stop the presses, the book was the serviceberry by robin wall kimmerer & i basically only have uncharitable things to say about it. my suggestion is that if you are considering reading the serviceberry, you instead read berry song by michaela goade: it is a lovely reflection on more or less the same material & will take up less of your time, because it was written for five-year-olds.

the problems i have with the serviceberry are: it has roughly six paragraphs of content and is somehow more than 90 pages long; it relies almost exclusively on generalities, abstractions, and twee anecdotes about zucchini; kimmerer cites several white academics, but only one indigenous academic, & all other references to indigenous lifeways and approaches are either filtered through white anthropologists or uncited, even when they are quotations; its call to action operates almost entirely in the realm of feelings; at one point it suggests that 'theft' (the privatization of the commons) is 'against the law,' and that we need elected leaders who support 'the rule of law,' which is ahistorical to the point of being utter nonsense; the way it engaged economics as a discipline was incredibly annoying; i don't think the 'gift economy' was usefully defined or interrogated, much less contextualized; i was peeved that the after note has a heartwarming reassurance that the advance for the book was donated 'to the earth,' but i couldn't understand why no specific organizations or initiatives were listed; it says incredibly stupid shit about libraries.

things i liked about the serviceberry: some of the prose, especially its concise & warm descriptions of ecological processes; the spot illustrations; roughly the first half of its analogy about ecological succession; kimmerer's suggestion that we call thieves who break the social contract darren, after the ceo of exxonmobil.

is braiding sweetgrass good? should i read gathering moss? this book was a complete waste of time but that's because it was an essay that was extended for publication in a pretty transparent effort to capitalize on a high-profile author, i'm not trying to throw out the baby with the bathwater here

[bookofmac]

my state electorate went lib nooooooo

[tap1rs]

begging my mom to stop sending me ig reels.

[hugger-of-trees]

Woke up, checked the news, pretty happy with that.

[communistkenobi]

the NDP ousting the one pro-palestinian mpp is the line for me lol. not voting for you cunts ever again

[jakeperalta]

I miss 2019 when I was actually feeling generally positive about voting labour. obviously the result (nationwide and in my constituency) was awful but at least I could feel pretty good about what my vote was going towards. whereas now I'm voting knowing that labour will certainly win the election and have a good chance at my seat and yet it doesn't really feel good at all :/

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Reading through election highlights really does just highlight the absolute buffoonery the past 14 years has been, huh?

[telltalebatman]

lmao muskrat is being such a massive POS to sikorski (who, let me remind you, holds one of the most important gov offices in poland, so this isn't JUST must throwing a tantrum, this is musk actively antagonizing a foreign politician of international renown) that even his fellow republican (don bacon) went "can you like......... shut the fuck up?"

[tourneyofashvara]

funniest part about an upcoming election is all of the jobs the council has been putting off suddenly getting done, like we've not had passing place signs on our road for like twenty years and they're falling over themselves to put them up and trim the verges for the first time in five years and clearing the bus stop for the first time since it was put in and it's like maybe if you got your thumb out a bit more often i'd be more inclined to vote for you

[simply-sithel]

New job means the brain's been a' churning with code lately. Putting some cycles towards @renegadeguild this month-- signature order spine lines are (languishing) in review (as Draft) and I threw together a typeset assembly tool in hopes of finally (collaboratively) tackling the idea of a Renegade cookbook.

Launched in honor/anticipation of Edible Book Day (April 1st), the Renegade PDF Potluck tool is currently accepting entries. Currently only available to Renegade Bindery folks (thems on the Discord) -- you can find the link & info in the Event on the server.

Deadline for entries is tomorrow (Saturday, March 22nd 2024) @ midnight PST but seeing as only 2 entries have been submitted so far, might be extending that a bit.

[morning-glory215]

While I certainly don't like the idea that the CEO's family are in mourning - because for all the bad he was complicit in and actively worked in, he was still family - and that people might have seen it happen.... GOD does it feel so cathartic. I have MS that needs Ocrevus. That is incredibly expensive. And I know I'm going to have to play chicken with insurance for the rest of my life - so excuse me if I'm celebrating and getting giddy watching this jackass get reamed online posthumously.

[fleshadept]

that post complaining about “performative radicalism” with this venn diagram is so fucking stupid.

like oh you know that do you? you know exactly what direct action every single person who posts online about things that are a little too lefty for you engage in? you know the inner lives of random people online well enough to claim that absolutely, for sure, no one who posts about wanting radical upheaval fucking gives time and money to their community? or goes to protests? have you ever actually met any radicals? because a ton of them do that shit constantly.

like yeah maybe people aren’t firebombing walmart but they are shutting down highways and arms depots and protesting regularly and getting arrested and you want to make the universal claim that none of those people post radical memes? what an absolutely insane take. i am so tired of people online deciding they can invent a whole group of people to be irritated at for actions (or inaction) they made up in their heads.

[executing]

ok i did my little grocery/household supply shopping and used that boycotting app and turns out it's incredibly easy to not buy from companies that support genocide. i had to find an alternative for exactly 1 item and there was a less expensive alternative anyway

[tomorrowusa]

Labour picked up yet another seat from the Conservative Party in a by-election in the constituency of Blackpool South.

Labour has taken Blackpool South from the Conservatives as voters deserted the Tories in a resounding Westminster by-election victory. Chris Webb secured a 26.3% swing in the marginal Lancashire seat, easily wiping out the Tories' 2019 general election majority of 3,690 to win by 7,607. Conservative David Jones only beat Reform UK's Mark Butcher into second place by 117 votes. The by-election was triggered by former Tory MP Scott Benton's resignation.

By itself, flipping one seat doesn't put Labour in the driver's seat in London; but it's significant because of the margin and because it's part of a series of repeated recent Conservative by-election losses to Labour and to the Liberal Democrats.

But wait, there's more!

There were various local elections around England and a few in Wales which coincided with the by-election in Blackpool South.

107 local councils in England held elections and there were also contests for mayor and public safety officials in a number of localities.

Here are the areas which held council elections. Some councils held elections for all council members while others had elections for half or some other fraction of the councils. This map shows party control prior to the election.

While not nationwide, the council elections were spread over much of England.

In any case, the Conservatives lost control of 10 of the 16 councils they had controlled. Labour picked up 8 and the Lib Dems gained 2. The number of councils with no overall party control or control by minor local parties remained the same.

But council control stats don't tell the whole story.

The overall number of elected councilors showed the Conservatives falling into third place behind Labour and the Lib Dems. It also shows the Green Party making inroads even though they did not gain control of any councils.

A number of localities held elections for mayor.

In London, Labour's Sadiq Khan was elected to a third term.

In Manchester, Labour Mayor Andy Burnham was easily re-elected. His nickname among supporters up there is the King in the North. ⚔️

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson provided some unintentional amusement on election day. He's responsible for enacting UK voter ID laws. He was not allowed to vote when he first showed up at the polling station because he had forgotten to bring his ID.

Boris Johnson barred from voting under his own voter ID rules

In summary from the BBC...

A general election must be held no later than late January. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak may look at the terrible results and decide that an early June election would not go well for his Conservatives. And because elections between mid June and the end of August tend to be unpleasant surprises for the governing party (Conservatives 1945) (Labour 1970), the UK would probably not see an election for parliament until at least mid-September. I'd bet a double espresso on October.

Even if Rishi waits until the very last possible day, things are unlikely to get any better for the Conservative Party. Electoral Calculus shows only two possible outcomes of a parliamentary election: 98% chance of a Labour majority and a 2% chance of a Labour plurality. Nobody is seriously talking about Conservatives being in charge after an election – regardless of timing.

BTW: Blame Salford for the delay in this post. They didn't announce their results until well into Sunday. Just couldn't post until all 107 councils had been decided.