Sven Slootweg @joepie91@pixie.town

This is a graph from a Dutch news article about changes in revenue (blue) and sales volume (red) in the Dutch retail industry. Above 0 means it went up, below 0 means it went down, compared to the previous year. The massive dip in volume are the years in which there were COVID measures.

But I want to draw your attention to the "revenue" line. Notice how it doesn't meaningfully dip compared to previous years, and revenues continued to climb, *even though* the sales volume decreased?

Next time someone tells you that ever-increasing consumerism is necessary to keep the economy running, remember this graph.

(The CBS, which is the data source for this graph, is the Dutch governmental statistics agency.)

as an anarchist, we're, like, really annoyed about this proposed US legislation that would make it possible for the White House to revoke non-profit status due to ideological disagreement

but not for the reason you may think

no, we're annoyed because so many organizations over the years took the route of accepting something from the state, a special tax status, without adequate recognition that this makes them dependent on the state

we're pleasantly surprised how many people are reading this thread despite it being behind a CW. thank you very much for that! we're committed to CW'ing this topic no matter what it costs in visibility, because to do otherwise would be to be willfully oblivious to harm; it's a relief to know the cost is bearable.

statism is an empty world view because it postulates a world that is not about people. preserving the institution is the highest ideal, no matter how much murder is required to do that. anyway, yeah.

these concerns seem super abstract, to the point that most people, if pressed, will argue loudly that they're not worth worrying about, not worth taking a stand over, not worth changing anything material to account for

until the moment they are suddenly very concrete and far too late to do anything about

I hate just chucking perfectly good stuff away, that’s why I have a huge stockpile of electronic junk that is worthless up to precisely 3 seconds after I dispose of it, at which point a perfect use for it emerges

Look. I use two spaces after every period. It's what I do. It's who I am. It's how I space my sentences.

If your software 'automagically' hides/erases that second space while I'm typing, I just assume my keyboard is breaking. This is good for no one.

I’m thrilled that Healthy Debate picked up my Disabled Ginger article on masks in healthcare.

“A Plea to Maskless Healthcare Workers from Vulnerable Patients” is a personal appeal to each and every HCW.

Until we mandate masks in healthcare - do the right thing & put one on.

This publication is read by many HCWs - so fingers crossed some of them start masking again!

I will be publishing the next 2 parts (patient stories and HCW stories) with Healthy Debate & on Disabled Ginger.

Never forget that you don’t need a mandate to do the right thing. Wear a mask and show you care about keeping patients safe from COVID.

https://healthydebate.ca/2024/11/topic/plea-maskless-health-care-workers-vulnerable-patients/

If you missed the original article in Disabled Ginger - it was dedicated to @Tinu who passed away a little over a month ago. You can read here: https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-plea-to-maskless-healthcare-workers

#keepmasksinhealthcare #CovidIsNotOver #CovidisAirborne #SARSCov2 #maskup #wearamask #N95 #ableism #disability

A few words on how to speak to/about #Native people:

1. We still exist. Do not speak about us in the past tense unless you are discussing history. We were not wiped out; don’t try to erase us again.

2. There are 100's of American Indian tribes/nations. We are not a monolith; don't expect us to be experts on cultures that are not ours.

3. Speaking of expecting us to be experts, don't come to Native people or communities demanding them to educate you. Start by listening.

#Indigenous #Mvskoke

TIL you can have dots in the protocol/scheme part of a URL

When the train station at airport Schiphol opened in 1979, it did have 3 tracks. Although station designs in the '70s used to be very cheap, Schiphol actually got some budget for design. The 300 pillars in the station each got an individual painted design from Martin J. Schwencke, which, when looked from in the right way, appeared like an arrow. Later, the paint was replaced with tiles in the same colors. In the '90s, with the expansion of the railway station, everything disappeared behind new gray coverings.

But the tiles are still there, just not visible! Yesterday I noticed a strange looking pillar during a stop on Schiphol. Based on my observation, somebody visited the station the same evening and indeed saw that the gray cladding has been removed from two pillars