After repeated attempts to resuscitate him, EMTs declared him deceased on the scene.

I’ve always been told by EMTs you treat every single person like they’re treatable and take them to the hospital for a doctor to declare death unless you find them with ‘conditions incompatible with life’ (ex: decapitated). Is that not the case everywhere? Or are they [DHS] lying about that part too?

Oh, I wish I could take credit for the first sentence, it’s an Audre Lorde quote from an essay of the same name. It’s very succinct!

The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. There is no ‘positive’ application of homophobia, even if the intent is to do something positive.

You can touch your face with dirty hands if you want, that was always allowed

Thanks for the detailed response and recommendations for getting started! The technical aspects of calligraphy are what appeal to me about it as well, which is sort of a running theme with the artistic hobbies I have (ex: weaving). I’ve been trying to get back into physical journaling, so this is probably a good thing to add on top of it.

It’s always a good time to start masking in public and washing your hands before touching your face!

The ‘99-00 cartoons gave him a mouth, but I think they disappeared it when he wasn’t talking.

I did a quick search for some in person classes, but unfortunately the only one near me is to teach Chinese calligraphy! Which would probably be more useful if I read Chinese, lol. I’ll stay on the look out for some, that does sound interesting.

I guess whatever part of my brain that can convert ‘writing’ to ‘art’ doesn’t work, because I spent a considerable amount of time as a child desperately trying to learn decorative handwriting! Going slowly makes it wobbly AF, and going quickly makes it sloppy, and I never could find the middle.

I’ve been holding a pencil and legibly writing for over 30 years and I still have no fucking idea how people write this nicely.

For what it’s worth, the parts of it that resonated with you were probably just lifted from office stories that he encouraged readers to send in. The dude himself was a lifelong grifter (you can listen to the Behind the Bastards episode about him for more info).

Looks like it has iron supports, not wood, should be fine.

Mississippi is subject to the same funding standards as every other state, and is miles behind everyone else. What they choose to do with that money locally is what is affecting outcomes, and it’ll be that way as long as curriculum and standards are set at the local and state level.

Class content is determined almost entirely at the local or state level, not the federal. How well students in Mississippi read has almost nothing to do with how the DOE has been doing, because what kids in Mississippi (and every other state) learn is determined by the state.

How can we be held liable for sinking this ship? We put a bandaid on every leak that was reported to us!

I get these weird ones that have AI generated sounding audio of women talking about their husband’s premature ejaculation and his one weird trick! No idea what it was (other than whatever gas station boner pill shit they’re selling), I skip before then.

I often think about an Arthur C. Clarke book—I think Songs of Distant Earth?—that has a colony of humans that solves all the big debate questions facing their society anonymously through the internet, which has completely solved the problem of judging ideas based on who said them.

Bless the optimists.

This feels like the modern day example of Indiana attempting to pass a law that would have inadvertently redefined the value of pi in 1897. It would have passed, but for a mathematician in the audience who spoke up. Nobody passing these stupid ass laws is sitting there going ‘oh yeah, no more Plato in philosophy class, that makes sense,’ they’ve just ideologically exiled anyone that would have told them why any of this masturbatory horseshit is a bad idea.

I can only imagine that’s the case, but it also seems plausible that it could kick in when you’re in space and not earth, since you actually get a break from the Vomit Comet and other training exercises.

It’s probably something else regardless, inescapable vertigo was just my first thought.

Okay, but they’re not saying that about a child of color. They’re saying it about DHS coming in and throwing people to the ground. I’m sorry that happened to you, but it’s not really relevant.