Replying to
@tomstafford@mastodon.online
I've been waiting for the opportunity to use this!
#alttext #chatgpt #aimemes
Remote
Skwerlgyrl 
🐿️
@Skwerlgyrl@hear-me.social
mastodon 4.7.3DWF in the Southlands of the United States. Gen-X, dogmom. Democracy, diversity, humanity. Learning tech from almost scratch. Life happens daily.
80 Followers
152 Following
50 Posts
Joined February 25, 2026
Jaxon is having an entirely understandable meltdown, because for God's sake, there is a PLUMBER in the HOUSE.
INSIDE. THE. HOUSE.
#alttext
Replying to
@Strandjunker@mstdn.social
Unfortunately I would have to agree with those who say the system is doing as the system has been designed to do, and most of our established leaders (from both parties) are just playing out their roles as they have been written. It's performance politics at best.
And I'm not usually the conspiracy theory type. I'm just calling it for what I am seeing: injustice sewn into the fabric of society, metastasizing into unbridled, unapologetic fascism.
The saddest part of all, for me, has been watching friends and family just ... carrying on, like nothing is wrong. Like somehow the nation will self-correct, and nobody will actually have to make any changes to their lives or choices.
#3goodthings #threegoodthings
#alttext
🍕 I start my new full-time job tomorrow.
🍕 After browsing 6 stores, I finally found 2 blouses to wear to that new job, until uniforms become available. And I found them at Goodwill for $4.99 USD each!
🍕 Hot flatbread pepperoni pizza smothered with extra Italian cheese mix shavings for supper tonight!
Plus 1 extra:
🍕 Got my car's annual inspection done today for dirt cheap, and the mechanic didn't "discover" anything unnecessary to charge me for.
🌧 The rain we have been praying for has finally arrived in my city. A nice, gentle yet steady rain, that has been falling all day. We really needed it. My weather app says the rain will conclude it's stay in a couple of hours, but in North Carolina we take the forecast with a grain of salt.
🌧 Day Two at my new full-time job went as well as it could have, although I do need to start asking more pointed questions, because confidence comes with comprehension, and sometimes vice versa.
🌧 There has been some kind of mistake in the selection of my summer college classes, but it was caught by the financial aid dept before classes start. It may also result in a better beginning to my (future) degree. I'm waiting for an email reply from the admissions dept.
#3goodthings #threegoodthings
#alttext
🎉 I have the weekend off from work.
🎉 My new coworkers are nice.
🎉 This photo:
New photos of Mama Bunz and her yearling, Cottontail, in my backyard, from early this morning. The quality is regrettable but I took these from the driver's seat of my car, before pulling away for work.
#wildrabbits #rabbits #bunnies
#BackyardWildlife #backyardnature#gardenwildlife #easterncottontail
#northcarolina #alttext
Three Good Things
🧦 My old, beat-up clothes dryer finally died today. I heard the belt snap while I was sitting in the bathtub with shampoo in my hair! And my washer is almost dead, too. But the good news is the local hardware megastore had a matching set, brand new, on sale for $1k USD (£757.52 GBP, or €828 EUR, or $1,419.45 CAD). That's cheap in this hard economy!
📲 Finally got my new phone on a plan. Had to resort to Verizon service, but they showed me how to unfreeze my credit just long enough to get approved for a cheaper plan, with 15gb of data, bundled with home internet at faster speeds than I currently have, for about $75 USD per month (that's £56.81 GBP, or €65.85 EUR, or $206.36 CAD.)
🐇 The funniest thing happened a couple days ago: I glanced out of the kitchen window, and saw Cottontail sitting outside, looking in! She was like, "Hey. Whatcha doin'?"
#3goodthings #threegoodthings
#3GoodThingsToday #threegoodthingstoday
Replying to
@jackhutton@mstdn.social
Ok, I'm not trying to be disrespectful here, but how do you know Trump was on the phone with Putin for 85 minutes today? I'm just curious where that information came from?
Then there’s the ongoing debacle of the “Great American State Fair.” ... Held on the National Mall, it was supposed to feature exhibits from every state, along with a giant Ferris wheel, carnival rides, movie screenings, concerts, and military flyovers.
What’s missing from all of this?
People.
At least ten states—Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Pennsylvania—have confirmed they will not officially participate. ...
Even Fox News has struggled to put a positive spin on the dismal attendance.
#thepoliticschicks #monicahealy #substack #uspol #uspolitics #trump #greatamericanstatefair #america250 #connecticut #illinois #maine #massachusetts #northcarolina #oregon #RhodeIsland #vermont #washington #Pennsylvania
https://open.substack.com/pub/thepoliticschicks/p/when-the-fireworks-fade
Replying to
Replying to
@TheZorse@hear-me.social
I'm not a great dream interpreter, but it looks like: sometimes you don't feel like you need people close, and sometimes (perhaps in periods of stress) you get by with a little help from your friends.
Most dream interpreters seem to view "flying" as an expression of finding or experiencing freedom. So maybe your mind is processing that sometimes keeping people "at arms length" creates a degree of personal freedom for you, but perhaps you also realize that sometimes we could all use a buddy, in new or uncertain circumstances?
Honestly, I feel like that's a quite common human experience in Western societies. We are not generally as connected as Eastern communities, and tend to be a little distant as a result, until suddenly circumstances change unexpectedly, and then either we look to the kindness of strangers for help, or it devolves into "every man for himself".
As Mr. Rogers once famously said, "Look for the helpers." Sounds like that's what you were doing in your dream.
Replying to
@TheZorse@hear-me.social
There is that, but the lenses are not crafted with precision, so in my experience, they had vision dead zones even when looking straight ahead.
https://biologyinsights.com/are-trifocal-lenses-the-same-as-progressives/
Replying to
@TheZorse@hear-me.social
I have progressive lenses with Transitions coating (they go from clear lenses inside a building to sunglasses when I'm outside in the sunlight).
Honest appraisal: I got vision insurance and it was worth it to see a better eye doctor. These glasses cost a small fortune (even after insurance) but they were totally worth it.
That said, my experience with less expensive progressive lens glasses has been generally bad. I guess it's difficult to grind the lens perfectly and less expensive outlets may not be willing to pay for experienced lens crafters.
Therefore, I would suggest that (at least for me) it's unavoidable to have multifocal lenses, so if I could not afford high quality progressive lenses, I would definitely opt out and elect for well-made bifocals or trifocals.
I fancy the notion of laser eye surgery someday, but ... I'm equally horrified by the requirement of remaining conscious and aware during the procedure.
Replying to
@5teverin0@toot.community
As a Christian, born and raised in the American Southlands, I absolutely agree with that quote.
For all of you screaming to the rafters about how Substack is a Nazi platform, why aren't you also screaming about Cloudflare? I'm genuinely curious.
---
"Last week I saw a post on Medium where some guy said he’s leaving Substack because Andrew Tate hit the bestseller list and because they host Nazis and he just can’t, anymore. Can’t support a company who profits off hate and abuse.
I wanted to say dude, you better get off the internet.
Because more irony. Medium runs on Cloudflare. lol.
Substack, too. Do a whois search on Substack.com, you’ll see it right in their whois. Nameservers; cloudflare.com. We’re all feeding Cloudflare profits and supporting the companies that prop up everything from the rape academy to AI generated porn and every other abuse whether it’s Amazon, Google, Cloudflare, Grok, or any Ai company."
#cloudflare #cloudflareisevil
#StopCloudflare
#cloudflareisnotanoption
#internetculture
#InternetGovernance
#protectwomenandgirls
#amazon #google #grok
#mediumwriters #medium
#substack
https://open.substack.com/pub/historyofwomen/p/tech-giants-make-profit-from-the
Dominican fried chicken. At least I hope it was chicken? It looks like mountain oysters.
Graph by Ohh That's Rich.
#alttext #uspol #gerrymandering
#republicans #democrats
#graphs #redstates #bluestates
#nonpartisan #bipartisan
#qualityoflife
Replying to
@bridgeenjoyer@gamepad.club @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
I understand that feeling. But if nobody tries, then we all fail.
Keep your chin up. Enjoy what you can of your life. But keep your eyes open for possibilities.
"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo. 'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"
-- Gandalf J.R.R. Tolkien, The Shadow of the Past, The Fellowship of the Ring
Replying to
@Captain_Jack_Sparrow@mastodon.world
Right now, our rogue government does whatever it pleases. They do not care at all about the basic human rights of Americans, so they are not going to care about the basic human rights of Palestinians, or any other group of people. Every human life is just a cog on a wheel in the machine that only exists to create more opportunities for them to become more powerful, and every human that is brave enough to show up and speak out against this tyrrany is expendable.
My heart breaks 💔 for Palestine. And for the United States.
Jaxon got a new chewy toy today. He's very excited to show it off.
#Dogstodon #dogsofmastodon#dogs #dogsoffedi #MastodonDogs#dogsoffediverse #dogtoys#alttext #bedtimeroutine#bedtimehabits #BedtimeForBonzo
Who is this person and why don't they offer any way to remove them from following me?
Replying to
@dave@az.social @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
I'm just sitting here, shaking my head "no" because evil never dies, it just changes form.
I'm predicting that Emperor Cheeto's successor will be just as bad, in his own way. And it won't be JD Vance, because Vance has (smartly) started to put a little distance between. It will be some other dreadful curse, like Stephen Miller, or Kegsbreath, or maybe even John Thune. <*shudder*>
Replying to
@crowdotblack@pdx.social
Are you suggesting that the priest should have walked home?
@AlexCorby@indieauthors.social @tomstafford@mastodon.online
Replying to
@wdlindsy@toad.social
We have a good admin on hear-me.social and he allows lengthy posts. But it's an American instance, just fyi.
We reject him and his enablers.
They must be held accountable and brought to justice.
And such tyranny must never contaminate this nation again.
Today we vow to set the United States on a new course.
To eliminate racism, sexism, and inequality.
To embrace honesty, empathy, and kindness.
To form a more perfect Union.
#andyborowitz #substack #trump #uspol #democrats #republicans #USPolitics #declarationofindependence #250years #america250th
https://open.substack.com/pub/borowitzreport/p/a-new-declaration-of-independence-17e
Replying to
@crowdotblack@pdx.social
At least you're honest, and that last sentence could pretty much sum up the years of my misspent youth.
@AlexCorby@indieauthors.social @tomstafford@mastodon.online
Guava tres leches cake for dessert, at my first day at the new job.
Replying to
@bridgeenjoyer@gamepad.club @Strandjunker@mstdn.social
I think a lot of Americans are taking that position, but here's the (quite literal) problem:
0 + 0 = 0.
If zero Americans feel like they can do nothing to change the trajectory of US politics, and zero political leaders are willing to even try, then zero pushback will take place.
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -- Martin Luther King Jr.
Folks, I'm still here. I have had less to say or share because the news has been generally overwhelming, and I have been recentering my focus (slowly but surely) on the good that remains. Kinda like looking up into the heavens at night, I realized I could suddenly see many tiny points of light amid the darkness.
To that end, here's my update, my Three Good Things.
1) I've volunteered to work with the ACLU, both as a poll monitor in a different city for midterm elections, and also "as needed" for other future concerns. Training is planned.
2) My local branches of Indivisible are also gearing up for midtems, and are actively recruiting poll monitors for training to address the many possibilities, good and bad. I am considering attending this training as well, as it's closer to home, and poll monitors are needed badly here too.
3) My full-time job continues at a popular national thrift store chain that makes every effort to reduce carbon emissions, employee the health-challenged and those with recent prior prison records, and keep used clothing / furniture / household goods out of the landfills while giving back to the local community with inexpensive or free job training available to everyone.
And an extra today:
4) Community college classes start again for fall semester in mid-October. I'm registered for two in-person classes, plus one that is entirely online.
#threegoodthings #3goodthings#CommunityCollege #midterms2026 #pollmonitoring#aclu #indivisible #northcarolina#perseverance #survivingintheshadows #survivingtheabyss
“In psychiatry, as in all areas of medicine, prescribing and deprescribing occur every day as part of individualized, evidence-based treatment planning between physicians and patients. The solution is not to stigmatize psychiatric medication or impose broad assumptions on clinical care, but to ensure that patients have access to the full range of evidence-based treatments and that decisions are guided by the best available science and each patient’s needs.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/05/antidepressants-rfk-jr-maha
#theguardian #maha
#ssris #deprescribing
#rfkjr #ushealthcarepolicy
#prozac #zoloft #lexapro
Replying to
@aka_quant_noir@hcommons.social
Sorry I missed this poll. I would have voted for "I mean" because I havea terrible habit of saying exactly that when pressed for an opinion on just about anything. Followed by a hapless shrug, and biting sarcasm.
Three Good Things 👍 👌 😌
Summer semester is 99% over! And I still have great grades!
Fall semester begins in mid-August, and I'll only be taking two classes, one at a time, back to back. That should be so much easier than three at one time this summer!
I might have a new job soon!
#ThreeGoodThings #3goodthings
Replying to
@ben@werd.social
I've been saying this would happen for a hot minute, but in my version, it's politically motivated.