Not in my browser history! This one’s staying blue.

“Vampire Capitalists” – Using this term now, thanks!

I’ve experienced many losses and traumas, some of which were guided by others with even more experience than I. They reminded me that while we grieve, we also have to take care of ourselves. Bathe, eat, drink, and live, even if the vector forward has an infinitesimally small magnitude… And to remember that our loved ones would want that for us.

I hope to be that friend for others when we inevitably experience these things and I’m glad to share what I’ve learned to keep us resilient in community. Carry their memory forward, and use the gifts they gave you to give back to yourself and those around you. ❤️

Sorry to hear this news. While you’re probably feeling a wild amount of strong emotions and having difficult conversations, we often forget to hydrate and eat something nourishing. I hope that you and Mom can grab a bite somewhere that will help give you the energy to take the next few steps. Little by little, friend.

The water thing is not overblown if you consider that data centers will only use potable water and will not be able to use treated water. Per just one of many studies:

Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.

With climate change and the exacerbation of droughts around the world, this puts any source of fresh surface or groundwater at risk of drying up.

Only 3% of Earth’s water is freshwater, and only 0.5% of all water is accessible and safe for human consumption.

This is a growing environmental justice issue (and data centers encourage further energy poverty that I haven’t even addressed, much less the increasing ratio of usage for industry vs residential), and to ignore that we as humans cannot replenish or increase freshwater supplies with any meaningful scale to support life, this becomes a dire issue.

I for one would much rather have water and affordable energy for communities.

Commenting to keep track of this.

Was going to say something similar about the clusterfuck part. That sounds like an absolute logistical nightmare for any small dev team that’s already stretched thin.

Watched the stream linked in the article all the way to the end. Never heard of this before but have been playing Minecraft since the beginning. There were tears shed watching this! Huge thanks to Kurt and all those that donated!

Thank you for this, and keep hanging in there! I get by, and try to manage with hydration always as the first line of defense. Sending you another fist bump of solidarity! 👊🏽

For me, the intro to Fallout 4 always gets that frisson going.

Woof. It sounds like you face your share of stressors still, and your old place is also eerily familiar to what I’m seeing in different sectors we’re interacting with lately. That ‘collateral damage’ thing is real, and I’m seeing colleagues getting caught in things that were above their pay grade (with lasting damage to their will to stay in the role). Sending my best to you for the strength to hold the line another day!

Being scared feels like an appropriate response, and I’m sure you’re not alone. It’s big of you to be able to type this out and I bet a lot of us are rooting for you. I’ve dealt with chronic pain and an anxiety diagnosis for decades, so I know this is hard. One breath at a time, friend.

Best to you for the days ahead and good luck with the procedure!

Telework changed my life. I’m very lucky to have the hybrid 50/50 option for office/home work, and wish it was afforded to everyone that could. I recognize those that have jobs requiring their physical presence are so strong for showing up daily in their professions. I’m in a similar field as you, but not for the Fed – hang in there!

Thank you and likewise!

Just found my password for this account again and I’m stoked. Not so stoked for the week ahead, although it’s just my own anxiety getting in the way. Big work project that needs to start Wednesday, and my partner has to drive 5 hours away with his colleagues to a work thing. I’m usually the one that drives us everywhere and, precious cargo, ya know? Hard to trust someone else driving him. Otherwise I’m trying to start biking again, did over 100 miles in the past week and I’m actually feeling like that could be what gets me back into exercising after all these years after several car accidents kept getting in the way of my recovery. Sending well wishes to everyone here, I know this timeline keeps giving all of us wtf moments every second of the day lately, but I’m practicing radical hope and kindness to myself and others as much as I can, and I think it’s helping. My wish is for you (reading this) to give yourself grace, and best of luck to you for the week ahead. You got this - one breath at a time.

Edit: following up after yesterday’s anxiety attack, I’m feeling much better and very positive, which is unnerving to juxtapose what I was going through just hours ago, but travel anxiety is real. I have a smile on my face after today! Hope is real. 🙏🏽

My elderly neighbor had amazing mandarin and grapefruit trees in her yard when I was young. I have a distinct memory of being up on her roof on a particularly cold and windy day, harvesting the mandarins, trying not to get poked by the massive 6-8cm spikes along the branches while we combed through each part of the tree. She was grateful to have our help and I really enjoyed time spent around her. Great memory that I didn’t think about until your post, so thank you!

Oh, thank you for this! Any excuse to enjoy one more weekend preparing/resting rather than doing the hard labor. Especially if it means I’m helping out our friends!

I’m still trying to determine what kind of fruit trees are growing in the yard. Getting closer to identifying them as the days pass! Getting more confident about the plum and apple guesses.

It’s been fun to see the grapevines waking up; I made a few wreaths with the trimmed vines last week. I’ll keep picking at the mint that I found lounging around the stairs so it doesn’t get too out of hand.

Cut down some invasives and trimmed up the trees a few weeks ago and everything is filling out nicely. Once the leaves and branches are fully raked and removed, I’ll be able to see what’s up for the rest. It looks like most of the pollinators are awake and about now that it’s warm enough so I feel better about tidying up the leaves to send to the city compost.

I pressed some of the freshly fallen PJM rhododendron flowers between parchment paper and set them under some weight. Looking forward to seeing what they look like in a few weeks.

No Mow May is in full swing - dandelions abound!

Hear hear. They’re fallible, make trash decisions, and bleed like the rest of us. It’s time we recognize them only as the scourge they are.