Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

world bad
news bad
earthlings bad
internet bad
masto good
discourse bad
you good
tiger good maybe? bad maybe?
catnip good
tolerance break good
catnip ban bad
louisiana governor bad asshole
fish good
donuts good
ate too many fish and donuts bad
more fish tomorrow good
more donuts tomorrow bad
most job bad
map job good
boss good
nap v good

No, GMT, tell us how you *really* feel... 😻​😻​😻​

OOOOOH, Playdek released a digital version of GMT's strategy card game Fort Sumter. Humiliating the Confederacy over and over and over will be a PERFECT way to spend my weekend. ^____^

You gotta have a lot of damn gall to compare rebuilding fuckin' Hornick, Iowa to rebuilding one of the most beautiful, architecturally ornate cities in the United States of America.

I mean, look at this heap of bullshit: https://goo.gl/maps/B2VxjnUunyYUcoMUA

I don't even know which end of the hammer I'm supposed to use, and I could have this shithole rebuilt in 37 minutes. THERE'S NOTHING THERE, ASSHOLE.

Called all five of Rep. Steve King's offices and left a lengthy, borderline-obscene-but-not-actionable rant on each one's voice mail, in response to his most recent dig at New Orleans.

I'm sure it will accomplish nothing except maybe attracting the attention of local law enforcement (I kid), but gods know it soothed my angry soul. It's a good enough substitute for eating his face... for now.

*makes a judicious and carefully considered studied decision to stress-eat*

@mawr That's some champion work right there. Has he considered going pro? 🐯​

AN HOUR AND A HALF on the phone with healthcare.gov and I'm still not sure if the issue with my application is resolved or not. *maniacal cackling; eats phone*

The good news, though, is I THINK I've unearthed all the proof documents I really needed, and in the process, I eliminated the month-long gap in coverage I was originally getting.

And I also can look at myself as the sort of person who gets the fuck up and rams her big stripey head repeatedly into problems instead of waiting around stressing out. That's... new for me and it's a good feeling. 🐯​🐯​🐯​

If nothing else maybe this fucked-up (and oh so ungodly pretty) swamp town will give me the sense of mental fortitude I've always needed so badly...

since some of my earthly relations don't seem to be getting it

fig. A

"SEEKING INTERPLANETARY FRENEMY FOR COLD WAR AND POSSIBLY MORE?

Us: fit, disease-free genetically uplifted feline race, 250 cm at shoulder

You: morally degenerate progenitor race with small crunchy skulls, huge reserves of seafood, slow runner, non-brachiating capitalists and authoritarians preferred

Turn-Ons: fish, loud noises, stompy boots, plasma rifles, huge cardboard forts, sushi, red plastic uniforms, anarchomonarchism, fish, catnip, dance music, mass invasions

Turn-Offs: extinction, ecological mismanagement, normative monotheism, cages, Rene Descartes, uppity wildlife documentarists, spray bottles

NO MOONCATS, SPACE COYOTES, OR CEPHALOPODS PLEASE"

Fuck North Face into the ground.

https://adage.com/creativity/work/north-face-top-imagens/2174261

I used the customer service chat line on https://www.thenorthface.com to complain, and if this story of manipulating a public resource bothers you too, I encourage you to do the same.

(I was also SUPER nice to the chat operator, who swore up and down she's a real human being; please remember to do the same. I also told her she wasn't getting paid enough to deal with this shit. :) )

@LeDiva STEAL IT BACK ​

WE HAVE A SPARE TRENCHCOAT WE CAN LOAN YOU, IT SEATS FIVE ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

@packbat Yeah, honestly, I was a mild critic/skeptic of CWs when I first came to Masto, because I've seen systems like that turn all normative and ossified and nasty...

...and now I'm a pretty fierce advocate of them. Everybody's been very chill about letting me use the CW for metatextual commentary (read: "cheap laffs"), and people have generally been really gracious about correcting errors/lapses politely.

So in summary, I've become a BIG fan of memetic speedbumps like content warnings. It's extremely handy to be able to take a moment and be mindful when you're about to step into an emotional topic. As far as I'm concerned, there's been NOTHING wrong or censorious about adding an extra layer of information to a post.

In fact, I'm starting to come around to the idea that maximizing people's ability to respond rationally to a post, instead of having their hindbrains exploited by cheap inflammatory tactics, is *part* of free speech, not a hindrance to it. Freedom should include the freedom to think rationally, without unfair influence.

@LeDiva Same here. :D

@Leucrotta I don't think that would be nearly as effective as it sounds from the middle of a depressive episode. I'm not bloody likely to go anywhere, or abandon you so easily, sorry.

I mean... look at my last couple years... you think I'm gonna look at YOU as worse than ME?! You'd have to fall pretty damn far to reach a lower standard than I see in myself. And I'm still willing to hang out with myself, and almost... kinda like myself again. QED, so there. *hug*

This looks absolutely bizarre. More art-horror with a giallo palette. I'm all in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biHUTtV4K40

@LeDiva Come say that in person. 😽​

@zx3 @LeDiva Damn straight. *high five* "Sexy cat lady with IT _and_ bard skills" is a hell of a solid Fallout '19 character build...

#moodsnapshot #snuffbox
#mattberry #WHISKYYYYYY!

@LeDiva

Awwrite, babe. *cracks knuckles* Because you flatter me, I'm gonna take the risk of going Full Jeff From Community here. Be warned that I'm not even sure if I believe my own bullshit here, but here goes...

Everything *is* fucked and there's very little you can do to change it!

The encouraging part is that there has been NO PART OF HUMAN HISTORY where that was not true. Really good things and really bad things have always co-existed, and barring out and out nuclear war, things probably won't get terrible everywhere.

And even if something terrible happens to humanity, um, our species has made such a ludicrous overreach in the last 200 years, getting knocked back a few pegs might be the best thing that ever happened to us. So humanity will probably be fine. And nature's gonna be fine in the long run regardless.

More *directly* reassuring: every single thing you've ever liked or enjoyed has happened alongside terrible things happening in the world. Luckily, terrible things tend to be self-limiting, because they're terrible. Even really REALLY terrible things like World War 2 didn't affect absolutely everybody. Even if the shit is really about to hit the fan politically, most of us are probably still gonna have OK lives.

Also, speaking of WW2, I've been reading up on Hitler and his rise to power. We are not NEARLY THERE YET. There had been, like hundreds and hundreds of fatalities from out-and-out gun battles between commies and fash in the streets of Germany by the time Hitler got into charge.

Our authoritarians are *really bad* at it, and we are very fortunate about that. Remember that Red Queen's Race metaphor I was talking about recently, where the predators and prey have to constantly change forms in order to stay ahead of each other?

Well, it was inevitable that the predators were gonna get the advantage here for a while. Our society is trying to digest a HUGE, pivotal new set of communications technologies. We did NOT have our shit together societally nor philosophically going into it, and now we're getting our asses kicked for it. We were gonna have this provocation to get our shit together one way or the other. And now it's happening... but our enemies have already made some real bad mistakes.

When the pendulum swings and we start developing a collective memetic immune system to this bullshit, it's not gonna matter if you're "doing anything to change it." It's just gonna change, and you're just gonna be a part of it, and it'll happen so gradually you won't even notice.

I mean... when's the last time you really stopped and stretched your arms and looked up at the sun and thought, "GAY MARRIAGE, LEGAL WEED (some places), AND A (flawed, but still) PUBLIC HEALTHCARE EXCHANGE?" We were good and sure we were gonna lose those bad too... assuming the hole in the ozone layer wasn't gonna kill us.

In summary, we're not fine, and we're never going to be fine, but we were never fine, and that turned out fine, so it's fine.

(Man, this Jeff-channeling is some powerful stuff. I need to be careful.)