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The Independent Variable

Posts on page 22

šŸ˜ž I can’t do this

Birchtree

I got into the irony of 2nd Amendment fanatics saying they needed gun for if the government sent masked men into their streets yelling, ā€œpapers pleaseā€, only to then cheer for those masked men when they did take to the streets.

Things have been quiet around these parts and I apologize for that. Life, holidays, work, and Foofaraw, have taken up a lot of time and the news as of late has just been devastating. We’re invading countries, have a secret police asking people for their papers, shooting unarmed citizens in the face, storming houses without warrants, racially profiling people, deporting people without due process, supporting genocide, letting health insurance rates spike exponentially while sending billions to places like Argentina, and suing our own federal reserve—all while the president and his family make more money in the last 10 years than they made their entire lives—it’s devastating.

To even think about the news, let alone read it, feels like a herculean task—and that’s from someone with a good job, supportive family, and has all the privilege in the world as a straight white cis man. I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like for people worried they could be kidnapped or harassed at any moment because of the way they look.

I’m rambling at this point, but I feel stuck and sad and I don’t know what else to do. It’s infuriating talking to people who you know are decent people, but still can’t understand the harm this administration is doing.

šŸŽ§ Streaming music is the lie we tell each other

Birchtree

I’ve come to the conclusion that streaming music platforms are a shared lie we all agree to that suggests we’re paying for music when we’re actually may as well be pirating it, we just pay $10 a month to keep the cops away.

It’s been fun to see Matt’s evolution of thought here, going from not thinking Spotify’s rates are an issue, To realizing all music streaming is a bit of a sham… I think the one point that keeps getting glossed over is it’s Spotify’s choice to do free ad-supported tier, which is the worst part of it all and why rates are cheap per listen. Should artists want to give that up and lose potential revenue? That’s not a question for me to answer, but I do think it’s something to reckon with. But yes, buy music. Bandcamp is great.

🌐 Hypertext theme

Blot

New theme fo the Blot CMS I use learned about via their newsletter. It’s styled after Obsidian Publish and looks terrific. Making me think I should give a digital garden another go…