sidereal

Hi! Freelance union organizer, cybernetician, thalassophile, bicycle rider. Most posts auto delete. Just shytpostin 4 the rev 🔥

"One of the most vicious partisans in the IWW." -- real quote from a real fan!

I'm sorry if I didn't respond to your post I have really extreme ADHD 🖤

#NoBot / #NoArchive / #NoIndex / #NoSearch

Location:: Seattle, Earth
Pronouns:: He/him

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sidereal_at_kolektiva.social@momostr.pink

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Last Notes

2024-09-05 15:07:16

Seems like a good time to remind people that police kill more Americans than mass shooters every year, and always have. The gap is not shrinking, it is growing as police violence rises faster than mass shootings.
Media outlets reporting on mass shootings, but not reporting on police violence are making definite narrative choices.

2024-09-01 16:23:34

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Wait, I actually didn't know Biden had made anti-freeway moves
Not like an "all is forgiven" moment but that actually is a pretty big deal to me. Getting rid of inner-city freeways wouldn't solve every problem in America, but it would solve a significant chunk of them

2024-08-30 16:05:17

Hey you: China isn’t making cheap EVs to fuck over American industry, China is just making cheap EVs because they can. Assuming everything is an anti-American plot is a form of American exceptionalism.

2024-08-24 19:51:03

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As a side note, from my perspective on the ground, the demands were reasonably clear: "Prosecute the people responsible for 2008, fund recovery not bailouts + austerity" and then this relatively simple message was severely muddled by the media. However, it's also easy for me as a participant to want to blame external factors! 😂

2024-08-24 19:50:15

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It was certainly a big tent movement with an identity crisis. 2011 was also the first time a bunch of self-described progressive liberals threatened to call the cops on me lol.
IMO both Occupy (coalescing into the contemporary labor movement) and the Alt Right were basically the left and right wing responses to post-2008 austerity.

2024-08-24 19:27:27

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Hah, there were some weird red brown vibes for sure
In Seattle the TEA Party kept buying us dinner (pizzas etc) being like "come on guys we also believe in people helping each other outside of the government but like /Most/ Cops Are Bastards, OK?"
Overall though, I think it was a positive movement that led directly to the current union upswing. But I'm certainly biased by my personal experienec with it lmao. I met a lot of my closest friends who I still organize with in 2011.

2024-08-24 19:11:33

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My whole childhood it was like "wow these kids today are learning so much with computers! They'll lead us into a brand new society!" and then as soon as we started actually doing that in the Occupy Era everyone was like "Whoa now, this is pretty utopian."
Like the only utopianism I see here is the attitude that capitalism will meaningfully reform itself, you fucks.

2024-08-24 19:10:25

The thing you need to understand about Millenials and younger folks is there has never been an American politician with realistic or even appealing ideas for our entire adult lives. But everyone older than us has been telling us we're "unrealistic" for expecting actual solutions rather than more procedural delays in the face of climate collapse.
The "unrealistic option" is and always has been to keep doing the same shit and expecting the world to not continue falling apart.

2024-07-10 17:36:51

People talk about "lockdowns" but at least in the USA I never felt meaningfully "locked down."
Like, I could still walk or drive anywhere I wanted at any point (except I guess crossing the border to Canada or Mexico, lol). Bars and restaurants and non-food shops were closed but that was it.
Compare this to an actual lockdown at a school or prison (but I repeat myself) where the doors are locked and everyone is required to stay in their homerooms/cells.
It's just the wrong term.

2024-07-09 23:32:53

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I was surprised to find out earlier this year that Sears Mexico is still a massive brand (92 stores across Mexico) that works pretty much the same as the whole company always did back before neoliberalism.
They mostly sell products made in Mexico to people who live in Mexico. As if anyone needed more proof that the internal markets and exporting manufacturing were a bad idea. I can't imagine any more concrete proof that this stuff doesn't work.

2024-07-09 03:58:14

At least one of the free clinics the Black Panthers started in Seattle is still operating. I got some antibiotics there one time. Not run by the Panthers directly since 1971 of course, but the clinic itself has been offering free care to the community this whole time. I think it’s run by SEAMAR (local nonprofit) these days. I kinda wonder if this happened in other cities too?

2024-07-08 16:22:11

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I think all the time about this Hopi farmer who went to Cornell to study scientific agriculture in order to go back and help out his people adapt to climate change... and the profs (at one of America's top agricultural schools!) told him it should be impossible to grow corn in places the Hopi have always been growing corn. 🤦‍♂️ You really can't make this stuff up.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/5/15/the-hopi-farmer-championing-indigenous-agricultural-knowledge
@npub1800…j49w @npub1pyu…s9mm

2024-07-08 15:39:31

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Sounds like you got dangerously close to figuring out that many academics are basically committing espionage for international capitalism and calling it "research."

2024-07-07 15:12:47

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It’s like Bay Area slang for an informal meetup with car stunts at an abandoned lot. IIRC they started becoming popular in the 80’s when the drinking age was raised and people under 21 couldn’t go to nightclubs/bars anymore

2024-07-07 14:42:26

Man there’s so much scolding about alt text on here and yet I cannot actually figure out how to read alt text on mobile. No notes, Mastodon triumphs again

2024-07-05 17:15:49

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If you’re waiting for someone to tell you that the current US government makes the OG Nazis look like the Boy Scouts, and we needed to start building Polish Resistance-style movements 5 years ago, this is it. I am telling you that right now.

2024-07-05 17:13:16

I’ve been operating as though the fascist government is out to get me since long before 2016, I’m not sure what y’all are waiting for.
I’m not against voting but I have definitely thought it was too late for voting in America since 2000, when the Supreme Court handed an election to the Republicans and the Democrats didn’t resist it.
In 2016, this country elected a man who openly said he would stage a coup if not re-elected. Then he did exactly that. Fascism has been here. Act accordingly.

2024-07-04 20:09:15

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the 4th of July is like the ultimate Hallmark holiday. Made up to sell tiny American flags.

2024-07-04 19:07:54

Happy 4th, the "camps" are already here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_immigrant_detention_sites_in_the_United_States

2024-07-04 18:57:26

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I love kobzars! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zkfYNVq_jE

2024-07-04 01:47:32

Fascism has been here. Jello Biafra said in the 90’s “If someone came for you at night and dragged you away, do you really think your neighbors would even care?” and as a kid who grew up in a mostly-conservative, mostly-white neighborhood I’ve never been able to unhear it.

2024-06-28 04:50:18

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They can't even imagine a society wherein communities can directly hot-compost their own shit into useful fertilizer like... [checks notes] most of Asia in the middle ages

2024-06-25 18:14:14

People: "Why aren't other people as puritanical as I am about these issues that matter to me?"
Those same people when it's time to think about other people's issues: "Well obviously, no one serious is going to be so puritanical about THESE issues."

2024-06-25 18:10:52

Some kinda wild coincidence that a bunch of of ransom cyberattacks go off right after every major tech company laid a bunch of people off

2024-06-25 17:29:56

Some people really tend to focus on times when violent revolution didn’t work out so well, but most of us, including myself, really tend to overlook all the (ongoing) times when nonviolent, nonrevolutionary political activity failed to get the necessary goods. This is a subtoot

2024-06-22 22:04:19

tag a friend who understands that all borders are blood clots that arrest the flow of energy across Spaceship Earth
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/662/526/575/842/565/original/73c74bd78a644ce3.png

2024-06-22 17:21:55

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I remember when I had never heard of a heat dome, and now they’re semi regular occurrences

2024-06-21 15:39:39

See the Internet Archive is cool, but 500,000 books didn’t just get deleted from Anna’s Archive because it is already just illegal. Piracy is not just cool and fun, but actually a necessary cultural survival trait.
Following the law is only going to take you so far. To be blunt, the people who make the world suck don’t follow any laws. Why, then, should the people who want to make the world better?

2024-06-19 15:59:14

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100%, doomerism doesn’t inspire anyone to do anything. What people need is a workable/realistic plan of action.

2024-06-18 16:44:09

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And if you think roads and public transit lose money, wait until you hear about airports 😉

2024-06-18 15:12:39

Very glad to not be the guy in my class who thought Kannada was an edgy spelling of Canada

2024-06-18 14:55:53

The really important thing to stay focused on with ai art is that it still sucks. It is not going to not suck anytime soon. People have had over a year now to use AI to make culturally significant art. I haven’t heard of any yet. I’ve been saying this whole time, I don’t think it’s possible.
How could an algorithm express a feeling about its childhood? What would AI art even be?
What we have are AI assets. Learn the difference.

2024-06-17 18:57:36

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Malcolm X, not Dr. King. DC has a street named after him too.
However your overall point is definitely correct, there are very few places named after left wing figures anywhere in this country.
(Chavez and Dr. King are "radical" enough for me but I don't really care to split hairs about definitions 😅)
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/633/460/638/690/809/original/0b0678a311d30985.png

2024-06-17 15:11:08

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There’s also Malcolm X Blvd in NYC, and Cesar Chavez Ave in Los Angeles.

2024-06-17 14:58:19

Guys with 20 followers harassing Wolven for getting off Mastodon because “you should have to read my replies or else you are oppressing me, because I don’t have the social power of your follower count” this is goofy as hell and people like that are why I have notifications turned off from people I don’t follow 🙂

2024-06-16 17:21:17

Anecdotally I feel like I’ve been seeing a slight uptick in mask wearing again at the grocery store and such

2024-06-15 17:35:00

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Though many people probably already know this story, I'll repeat it anyway because it's relevant to the thread:
Because of the Dead Kennedys' deeply sarcastic song "Kill the Poor," a bunch of nazi skinheads started showing up at their shows (the nazis didn't get that the lyrics were ironic).
So to clarify things, they released a now-classic single, "Nazi Punks F*ck Off"

2024-06-13 04:12:08

Pretty much nothing is simple about the ethics surrounding firearms. I really wish people would stop saying things like "it's simple, just ban the guns"
Who's gonna take the guns? What are they gonna do with them? What if people don't give up their guns? How are you gonna even find the guns in the first place? Who stops people from making more?
What are you gonna do when local pro-gun cops refuse to enforce these laws as they already have in my state?
None of these are rhetorical questions.

2024-06-12 15:16:28

If you think everyone who disagrees with you is mentally ill, then you are an ableist, and you probably also haven’t put very much effort into understanding why they disagree with you.

2024-06-11 17:14:20

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"But I can't make up a very good bed time story!" you say. Here's the thing: there's no pressure on you because AI can't, either

2024-06-11 17:12:22

As a person who actually likes to read and respond to the messages people send me on my phone, I'm having a hard time understanding these new features Apple is announcing.
"We can summarize big group chats!" -- But I actually like seeing what my friends and family are up to?
"Automagically come up with a response text!" -- I'm already hyperlexic, thanks
"AI can write you a bedtime story!" -- as opposed to, you know, telling your kid a bedtime story yourself 🙄

2024-06-09 16:11:03

On Mayday 2012 some people smashed some bank windows in downtown Seattle.
The Obama admin called a grand jury and within six months several of my friends and classmates were in solitary confinement in prison.
The fact that the Biden admin didn't react to J6 like this indicates to me that the Democrats care a lot more about people smashing bank windows on Mayday than they do about things like J6.
The US justice system simply does not have to be this slow or anemic. This is a choice.

2024-06-08 17:31:58

Just found out that a bunch of tankie instances block kolektiva for “sectarianism” and no you cannot make this shit up

2024-05-29 16:34:55

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Dude my middle school science teacher claimed he would lean to one side, pour olive oil into his ear, and let it pour out the other side to "clean things out"
(he was also a young earth creationist, to give you some idea of how the US education system is doing)

2024-05-29 15:58:09

I'm into banning private jets in general, but I demand a well-crafted exception for rednecks who DIY

2024-05-28 23:57:37

Source: Business Insider
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/521/413/563/332/453/original/800645dee03507f1.png

2024-05-28 01:41:28

Intergenerational conflict should be avoided. People of all ages can get along better and we would all be better off. Ageism, whether aimed at young people or old people, is bad for everyone of any age.

2024-05-26 15:20:23

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Look, the children need to find out about "Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool" somehow, and this is as good as any other way

2024-05-26 15:18:54

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Love how they're announcing this new 21st century invention with a [checks notes] 70's/80's celebrity

2024-05-25 14:44:07

Brave AI Search is hilarious, I've started looking up semi-notable people I know personally in it and it's so bad.
It's claiming one of my old professors from college is dead. He's definitely still alive, excited to see how he responds to that email 🤣
It's claiming one of my white friends is indigenous... this is a fucking mess.

2024-05-25 04:37:13

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https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/499/864/432/389/506/original/a5d8a1b6580b1a8c.png

2024-05-23 18:49:56

I think a marina on the ship canal went out of business. On West Commodore Way, near the Ballard Locks.
We should make it a liveaboard cooperative.
Central clubhouse with commercial kitchen, showers, and power tools so people can fix their boats. There's one like this in Vancouver BC: https://spruceharbour.com/

2024-05-21 15:57:13

Found in the wild. No notes, perfect meme.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/479/889/115/842/074/original/a5b1eb5c9086d950.png

2024-05-21 04:05:57

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If you've never read the blue leaks they're hilarious. They're like speculating about "who is funding the portland anarchist scene" so hard and ALMOST figuring it out. At one point one of the cops is like "I just can't figure out where the money is coming from or going to! It really just seems like it's a bunch of broke people giving each other rides and eating meals at each others' houses" and it's like yeah dude you're so close to seeing that [anticapitalism] has no [funding].

2024-05-21 03:48:30

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They were trying to do this bc if they could prove some kind of connection to foreign finance then our picket lines would have no longer been constitutionally protected speech 🙃 just like these fuckers are trying to do to student protestors in solidarity with Gaza
I love America 🔥🇺🇸🔥 Land of the free home of the whopper baby

2024-05-21 03:44:40

I can't remember exactly but I think the guy who just died in Iran was the person that the PDX police tried to claim (in the blue leaks) that the PDX IWW had a picture of up in their union hall
(goes without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway, the PDX IWW union hall did not have any photos of Iranian politicians, so really the fact that they claimed they saw one is just further evidence they never actually went inside the hall)

2024-05-20 21:15:05

Me when I was a kid: swearing is cool because it makes controlling adults uncomfortable.
Me as an adult: swearing is cool because it makes controlling adults uncomfortable.

2024-05-18 16:39:47

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I think you’ll find that Hamas has always gotten a majority of their funding from the Israeli government, and also that Iran and Saudi Arabia are not particularly close.
Anyway, if all of this is true then why did the USA not really care about Israel one way or another until the late 60’s/early 70’s? Before that Israel was closer to the USSR and politically inconvenient in the USA. You’re falling into conspiracy theories to explain what is actually out in the open.

2024-05-16 04:56:11

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It’s very strange because most everyone at the clinic I go to is still masking
Last time I had to go to the urgent care I noticed that the security guards/nonclinical staff were totally unmasked, the nurses/techs were wearing baggie blues (poorly) and the MDs were wearing N95s or better.

2024-05-16 04:47:45

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Lol, several years in and no one has ever asked me why I’m wearing a mask
This is I think my “being tall, muscly, and angry looking” privilege showing

2024-05-16 04:37:12

I started wearing a respirator when the government was telling me it was safe and I didn’t have to. The mask mandates were meaningless to me. I started wearing a mask long before they came around and I kept wearing a mask long after I “didn’t have to” anymore (I never had to, I always wanted to).
At this rate I fully expect to keep wearing a respirator long after the government has made it illegal. Are you ready for that?

2024-05-13 00:12:37

Before Biden was elected people were like: "Look, he's not perfect, but he's better than Trump. Just vote for him and criticize him from the left."
And then every single time I have criticized Biden this entire time, the same people are like "What so you want Trump to win?"
I'm criticizing Biden [explicitly because] I don't want Trump to win, actually, and it seems like Biden is hellbent on pursuing policies that are going to alienate most people and deliver a Trump victory.

2024-05-12 18:34:44

Hahaha nice, some local heroes hacked a bunch of the temporary traffic reroute signs downtown to say FREEGAZA
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/429/547/674/724/047/original/e1c1287de649ff51.png

2024-05-01 15:30:47

62% of Americans thought burning down the Minneapolis Precinct in 2020 was justified. Even my conservative lowkey racist uncle was stoked. Resisting fascism is actually pretty popular in this country across the political spectrum.
I was at an action recently and some white lady started yelling at us. I thought she was about to get snippy, but instead she said “THANK YOU ANTIFA YOU ARE HEROES”
Getting rowdy makes the movement look good, and nothing is going to change if we don’t anyway. So.

2024-04-30 22:40:34

Being able to hide boosts from people but still follow them for their actual posts is like, an amazing and game changing feature tho

2024-04-30 14:29:40

This one time when I was in college I overheard a bunch of off duty Seattle Police officers bragging about how there was a big Palestine solidarity protest coming up. They were excited to get paid hazard pay to beat up hippies.
Defund 100%, disarm, disband. They are all corrupt. The idea of a non-corrupt cop is a contradiction in terms.

2024-04-28 17:28:47

Speaking from experience, deploying snipers against student activists is a great way to make sure they will never trust or respect your government ever again, for the rest of their lives.

2024-04-22 05:04:56

The ongoing existence/tolerance of the “Ivy League” in its current form has been a national embarassment for generations, and if you don’t understand why (hint: it’s the transparent & obvious oligarchy maintenance under the guise of academic rigor) you may be part of the problem.
The current things happening at Columbia are exactly the sort of behavior I expect from Ivy League institutions. I’m just hoping that now everyone else will take them less seriously.

2024-04-19 02:32:45

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I guess a big part of why Sears was successful historically, too, was they printed their order forms in a bunch of different languages so that immigrants would feel more comfortable buying stuff from them. People today would probably call this DEI and lose their minds

2024-04-19 02:19:09

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Apparently Sears, despite going bankrupt in the USA, is doing great in Mexico under separate ownership, selling mostly products made in Mexico.

2024-04-18 20:35:12

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omg. $362,809.90 today. Nowadays a new elementary school could cost 10x that. Sadly I can't find any evidence any of these were ever actually built but it's an awesome idea.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/294/126/064/808/123/original/69183242420bf97b.png

2024-04-18 20:20:40

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Wish these were a little higher res but I like the floorplans a lot. Cozy but functional. Not too many people even make houses this size in America anymore (also, check out the "sewing room" on the 2nd floor!). This is a bit of an exaggeration but it feels like all new construction is giant, sprawling McMansions, terrible townhouses/condos/"efficiency microapartments," and tiny homes on utility trailers.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/294/055/465/490/874/original/64961ccb7d9d3463.png

2024-04-18 20:11:29

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"Every merchant who sells on credit must add extra profit to all prices to make up for his credit losses" Who wrote this ad copy, Lenin himself? They're literally calling out their competitors for [checks notes] engaging in capitalism 🤣

2024-04-18 20:07:47

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Holy crap they had a return policy lmao. "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back"
How do you even return a kit home after you've built it? Amazing.

2024-04-18 19:11:27

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Also thinking about how the fact that they had one clear price for all customers with no commissions or discounts meant they were probably more accessible to racially marginalized people

2024-04-18 19:09:36

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"You pay for no waste lumber" because they owned the sawmills and just pulped all the waste to make wallpaper and then sold that too omfg this is so much smarter than how our economy works today

2024-04-18 19:07:39

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$8,700 in 2024 dollars for a four bedroom house. This is emotionally difficult for me to read

2024-04-18 19:04:19

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They were basically using increased automation from then-new sawmill tech and economies of scale, plus a lack of distributor/dealer/contractor incentives to pass the savings along to the consumers. This was actually pretty awesome.

2024-04-18 19:00:07

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"There is more pleasure and satisfaction in owning a small home than living in a large rented one." I'm noticing none of these ads talk about the future value of the home. This wasn't about speculation, this was just about getting away from landlords.

2024-04-18 18:57:12

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Holy dicks these things were cheap when they were new.
Like adjusted for inflation, we're talking like $6K for an entire 1 bedroom house. An extra $300 got you all the kitchen cabinets you needed.
Shed kits smaller than this cost more than that now...

2024-04-18 17:58:19

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Like obviously that was not the only thing, but it didn't hurt either

2024-04-18 16:00:19

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All I'm saying is America had fewer problems with housing when you could order an entire house from the Sears catalog for a reasonable price and assemble it yourself

2024-04-18 15:59:41

Does anyone know if any of the blueprints/schematics for old Sears kit homes are available online anywhere?
EDIT: OK lots of people have responded with the catalogs themselves, which are awesome. But I am still looking for BLUEPRINTS. It seems like they were probably mostly destroyed by the company itself at some point in the 80's but this is a long shot, right?
Does anyone know any like history professors in Chicago or anything who would have some weird architectural archives or whatever

2024-04-17 03:18:40

Fox News Commenters: OMG Seattle is dying! The Bed Bath & Beyond downtown closed!
What's actually happening is they're turning the old Bed Bath & Beyond into an arts center.
From my perspective, this is a huge improvement over a store I never fucking went to.
Commerce... is not the purpose of cities or human lives.