the most important thing to remember when you see eugenicists who don’t believe that autistic people should exist rambling about “the autism epidemic” is not that they’re wrong about the “cause” (although they are absolutely wrong about it); it’s that they are eugenicists

If you’d like to unpack all the lies being told to the public right now, here’s your fact valet — Acetaminophen doesn’t cause autism&pregnant people w/fever or pain need it. Leucovorin isn’t an autism treatment& the reason they’re trying to sell you that is explained in the attached thread& posts

Ask yourself, if this lie or unsubstantiated claim was true, would it justify their conclusion? If the answer is no, than this should not be the primary basis of the pushback

With students heading back to the classroom, a group of cognitive scientists and AI researchers has published one of the most forceful and evidence-backed calls yet to reject the "uncritical adoption of AI" in academia:

The president is sending the military to control American cities and if you're a reporter who's framing that illegal power grab as "pushing the boundaries of constitutionality" or "acting boldly to fight crime" or whatever, please go find another line of work where you won't get us all killed.

So cool!

Having to get out early means catching some morning mist in the hills before it burns off.

Hey folks, please spread the word. I know it is hard in this hyper-connected digital age, but learn how to organize and communicate in ways beyond social media and apps.

If empathy is a sin, then let me be guilty of it daily. ❤️🌼

Some days I, too, would like to just climb a tree and threaten to jab anyone who comes too close...

This newsletter has been off to an impressive start, and this week's issue is especially important to read before whatever BS statement RFK Jr comes out with about autism.

Sometimes owls look majestic and wise. Other times, they look like lumpy muppets.

Respect the locals! 🦊🤎

If only!!!

Honey is here to sweeten up your scroll.

Important thread:

I don't even know what proper supports would look like in my life.

There’s an enormous amount of stuff in this book I’d like to highlight, but start with: “What emerges as the most elementary insight is that, since we do not now have any ways of making computers wise, we ought not now to give computers tasks that demand wisdom.”

This whole thread of highlights from this book is worth reading (as is the rest of the book, I suspect).

Main message in Ron’s post is that it isn’t either-or. We affect the large scale through our work on whatever scale we work on. Rather than “forget the world, focus on you and yours,” it’s more like "this is *how* we save the world." We and our direct connections *are* the world, together.

it feels like such a simple ask.

OK nerds, I have a challenge for you. @tangledwilderness.bsky.social has just published my Letter to the Trans Teens Thinking About Giving Up as a zine. I want to see how many copies of it we can get into the hands of the people who need to read it, and I need YOUR help.

Loved this retelling of Circe's story!

Beaming down.

"If you are struggling to fathom or reckon with what’s happening, begin here: who can you help protect, and how?"

Because everything seems grim right now, and I need a bright reminder from before the air quality turned to shit from wildfire smoke, here is a picture of a tiger swallowtail absolutely stuffing itself into a purple hosta flower. #photography #butterflies #nature

Yep yep yep.

Today I have been juggling academic writing, onboarding for a new work position, event planning, spiritual practice and the necessities of everyday living. Got a martial arts class later tonight, too, just to round things out. Wednesday really needs to be a mid-week day off so I can recover...

Very glad I went ahead and bought all three Danielle Cain books by @margaret.bsky.social instead of just dipping my toe in with the first one. They're all quick reads and very hard to put down!

You are not alone. There are more decent and helpful people in the world than schmucks and haters. Call out. Work together. Stare down the jerks and start making this a better world. (From @foxes-in-love.bsky.social)

Both this paper and process sound really interesting! Check out the whole thread.

Lovely to see social posts telling people about Mars appearing close by the crescent Moon tonight. I think more people should engage with the night sky! But so many posts feature AI slop images that misrepresent...everything.

This black bear family has made several appearances this month. Wild neighbors require alertness, but are mostly doing their own thing. youtu.be/dDMvf9MTP1I

This looks awesome (in all senses of the word)!

Important research into a compounding cycle of crises rooted in unregulated industrial exploitation of fresh water. Drought, land subsidence and sea level rise are all linked. We need to stop this recklessness and move into respect for the life-giving systems we are embedded in.

Saying you're an animist is a political statement. Animism speaks to your relationships with other living humans just as much as it does with spirits. Your relationships with other living humans more clearly demonstrates your animism than anything else. #WitchSky #PaganSky

Strong message that may be a bitter pill for some, but we need to be clear-eyed in order to act.

We don't come together and form communities in order to be more efficiently exploited by billionaires, we do it so that when people need help, which we all do, constantly, in different ways, and to varying extents, we can give and receive that help. That's the purpose.

We'll have more to say about the latest terrible executive order on our next This Month the Apocalypse episode, but underlying it, even beneath the eugenics, bigotry, and racism, is the belief that people who need help are a "burden" on society. Helping each other is literally what society is for.

I was doing a breathing practice related to Hekate while walking the dogs, and this little beauty of a garter snake crossed the road just ahead of us. Lovely little connection!

Big tech promotes the story that since ChatGPT burst onto the scene, AI has been so popular it's rushed to meet the demand. The reality is different. A study by design scholars shows tech co's have had to push AI on its users with a variety of intrusive tactics. How big tech is force-feeding us AI:

Hey, y'all! I'll be teaching a course this September on designing accessible pagan communities. We'll talk about the history of disability in the US, the disability/accessibility tax, digital and web accessibility, and designing accessible ritual. 1/

Just finished reading Medea by Eilish Quin, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Retellings of myths always interest me! Though I was a bit surprised that, of all the deities that figured into the story, Hekate did not make an appearance.

Stop Gen AI on signing the People's AI Action Plan, organized by @ainowinstitute.bsky.social. Our punk spirited org has zero faith in swaying politicians but resistance to Gen AI must be united, public must be informed. @bcmerchant.bsky.social peoplesaiactionplan.com stopgenai.com/peoples-ai-a...

Had a short vacation in Maine last week, and came across these modern petroglyphs at the Center Pond Preserve in Phippsburg, depicting local birds (and some dragonflies). Lovely nature art!

Out of context quote from Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, but also strangely relevant to my recent thoughts about the idea of being "apolitical."

Yes! Been wanting this for a while now. I'm sure it's not perfect, but it's a start.

Fresh spiderweb beaded with dew after a foggy morning by the ocean. Sometimes beauty that might be overlooked becomes more visible when the conditions are right.

This (see the whole thread) sounds amazing, infuriating, and motivating all at once. Will do my best to attend virtually!

The R word is not a funny, edgy word to throw at people who annoy you on the Internet. It is a medical diagnosis created during the eugenics era that people with intellectual disabilities and families have literally spent years trying to stamp out from polite conversation and public life.