I felt highly agitated when I first learned of this plan but then I got more information and I calmed down a bit. From what I’ve read if this justice is removed the governor, a Democrat, would be entitled to appoint a replacement—possibly the same removed justice. Or someone else liberal & the removed justice could run again. There’s a way the Republicans could try more fuckery by the state house impeaching and the state senate refusing to hold a trial, because the state law says that an impeached official is barred from serving until the trial results in removal or acquittal. So GOP could try to say that once impeached the justice cannot serve, but delay the trial in the senate to avoid the governor appointing a replacement. Sigh this is so long! So anyway that’s a very narrow route to guaranteeing they get the result they want & obviously it bumps up against the article excerpts above, that voters would be angered and some GOP legislators are in unsafe districts. And finally if they did do that convoluted process to sideline a justice but delay the governor being able to appoint a successor I think the governor could very well rightfully interpret the situation as a vacancy on the court and appoint anyway. Which would of course probably go to court!

Phew.

I think all factors considered the situation in Wisconsin is not completely bleak.

Now the US Supreme Court, on the other hand, is a horrific tragedy.

Vivaldi on laptop, Orion on iPhone — but as of last week Orion is crashing multiple times a day (after months of use without issues).

I’m curling up to a movie right now on Hooplah & last night watched one on Kanopy, two streaming services I get free with my library card.

List of Fediverse admins pledging to pre-block Meta instances: https://fedipact.online

It will be possible to have accounts on multiple instances, those that block Meta or federate with Meta. Then see what happens.

This, for sure. I live in the US and wanted to learn to understand Celsius so I switched my phone to use it. Internalizing a system works where translating/converting does not. I quickly learned that I feel comfortable in temperatures in the 20s. Since I feel comfortable in Fahrenheit temps in the upper 60s to mid 70s I can guess what the conversion is for most temps, but I don’t have to do it to understand that I like how 22 C feels.

Similarly, if you’re traveling and having to use a foreign currency I prefer to establish an idea in my head of cheap, reasonable, expensive than stopping to convert every price exactly. A “reasonable price” is relative to the item and location, of course, and should also affect my perspective.

Absorbing a new system by this method works fairly easily for temperatures and money, but less so for other measurements. I don’t have as fine-tuned a sense of what ounces, pounds, or grams feel like as I do units of temperature. And I am always adding or subtracting 12 to understand time when expressed as 13h and up.

During the brief period when the US was encouraging metric system understanding there were many highway speed limit signs expressed as 55 mph / 88 kph. Every time I need to make that conversion I think of 5/8 because of that sign. And I usually just make guesstimates that work well enough.

I like learning new things. The generation before me in my family turned off their brains long ago and now suffer dementia. I work to keep my mind active. Learning other units of measure is one example.

Finally I’ll say that I WISH I could get to a point of understanding languages this way without translation.

I’m not currently using RSS, it’s been years. And yes I also felt overwhelmed. I have same problem with Podcasts on my iPhone and honestly email. Just like in most cases I don’t want to be pushed content. My brain feels bad for not keeping up. The best use of RSS that I can imagine for me would be following a small number of original content creators who post erratically in multiple platforms. It’s another reason I love the fediverse so much bc we can slap /feed on the end of many addresses to pull that content elsewhere. And again I’m not currently using RSS lol. I’m just saying that I might use it for passionate follows. I think it’s a useful tool for getting people free of the big bad platforms.

Why do I see my image in preview and not in the post? 😫

Agree with @Burp @Overcast and @BedSharkPal
Caveat: I’m an artist; I build ice cream castles
But
Humans are feelings creatures not rational ones. Everyone can relate to bad feelings using the corporate platforms. That’s the hook imo. To offer more respect, more honesty, and just better feelings here in the Fediverse. I think it feels good here but there’s room for improvement.

Now, I did read the entire blog editorial. I have been guilty of some of the issues identified in it. I joined Mastodon in October and quickly became an evangelist (I only use that word negatively lol). I’ve also lost some enthusiasm. I’ve struggled to figure it all out. I’m changing my habits. Etc. I still don’t know what will work best for me but I know it won’t be any of my existing accounts on Twitter, or Meta. It will more likely be something within the fediverse because it feels better.

A lot of the points in the editorial & a lot of the criticisms in these comments I agree with. (A lot, not all. Some people complain illogically & there’s no point in answering. They’re just going to be sad/mad until they aren’t.) It’s all good food for thought. I don’t see any reason in denying or arguing when someone has a bad experience here. Holding hands and making it better together is my preferred way forward. Oh yeah, I’m not just an artist. I’m a gay artist. Despite all the shit I still believe in spreading love. Ok gonna go barf now.