[Thread] Random excerpts from #KleeBenally 's book, #NoSpiritualSurrender

The Enemy of #MotherEarth

"From Mother Earth to our bodies, in a #capitalist system everything that can be reduced to a commodity will be. As long as it can be sold, bought, or otherwise exploited, nothing is sacred. So long as the lands (and by extension our bodies) are viewed this way we will have conflict, as #capitalism is the enemy of Mother Earth and all that we hold to be #sacred.

"In its base definition, capitalism is an economic and political system based on an unregulated or 'free' market, private property, competition, and limited government intervention. But the definition obscures the reality that capitalism is based upon extreme social #exploitation and dispossession, #EcologicalDestruction, #hyperindividualism and #materialism, and its history is rooted in #WhiteSupremacy, #cishetereopatriarchy, #genocide, and #slavery.

"To be anti-capitalist is not enough, anti-capitalist propositions rooted in #industrialism and #extractivism are just as invested in #ecocidal (therefore anti-Indigenous) economies. Killing the Earth is killing Indigenous existence, #Colonizers must religiously convince themselves and others that the world is already dead to justify their ongoing violence against the Earth and existence. In the face of global ecological ruin, some attempt to further convince themselves that killing the Earth just a little bit less is an appropriate response."

Pages 136-137

Today in Labor History February 27, 1812: Poet Lord Byron gave his first address as a member of the House of Lords. In his speech, he spoke out in support of Luddite violence against industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire. He spoke specifically against the Frame Breaking Act, which gave the death penalty to anyone guilty of breaking a machine. The state hanged 60-70 Luddites during the time the law was on the books. However, most of the time, the courts used other laws to convict them.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #deathpenalty #hanging #luddites #lordbyron #poet #poetry #books #writer #author #industrialism #technology @bookstadon

"#Exxon, your black hearts make me sick.
Budgets that burst with oil, crude gas in purse. No compassion, common criminals seek asylum.
Concrete pillow, Exxon dreams, hidden #hierarchy. No one in power taking blame."

- #SkinnyPuppy, Hexonxonx, 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdUfLj7cNY

#ClimateChange #WarningSigns started in the 1800s. Here's what humanity knew and when.

"Scientists had already figured out by the late 1800s that a greenhouse effect works to keep the planet warm, and that the carbon dioxide produced by burning coal could enhance that effect. By the 1970s, researchers were measuring those emissions in the atmosphere and warning Earth’s temperature could warm between 0.5 and 5 degrees Celsius by the mid-21st century."

#ExxonKnew #AHexOnExxon #Capitalism #Colonialism #Industrialism
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/06/10/timeline-of-climate-change-what-humanity-knew-and-when/70273996007/

In the 1920s, clothes manufacturers starting using machines to knit socks on a large scale.

This shift in manufacturing meant the majority of socks were and still are made with a short row heel. Short row heels are easier for machines to make because there's no picking up of stitches involved.

Short row heels are fine if you have low insteps, but they tend to be tighter across the instep. This is because the number of stitches doesn't change. They often rely on super stretchy fabric to fit.

Heel flap heels are shaped more like a human foot. Human feet do not have a right angle from ankle to instep. It's more of a slope. Heel flap heels accommodate this because they use a gusset. A heel flap is knit back and forth flat (this is the flap)*, then there is a small heel turn, and stitches are picked up around the sides of the flap to return to knitting in the round. This means that they're are more stitches now than when you started.

If you struggle with getting socks over your heel, or hate wearing socks because they're too tight on the top of your foot, you might want to try finding socks that are made with a heel flap.

*You can totally make heel flap heels without picking up stitches if you knit them toe up, but this method is relatively new (note: new in the sense that folks have been knitting socks well before the stories depicted in the bible). Either way, it's cheaper for machines to make socks with short row heels.