Maggie Marbles
@maggiemarbles.bsky.social
Cat lady, theater bum, anarchist potter, and occasional attorney.
When do we get to chain him up and, you know...?
November 18, 2025 at 3:47 AM
When do we get to chain him up and, you know...?
I think there are guys who are long past that possibility and who, unfortunately, try to make themselves interesting to younger women in their own fields. That makes them pathetic AND sexual harassers. I'm talking more about men who are viable vacation flings, which is never your faculty advisor.
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 AM
I think there are guys who are long past that possibility and who, unfortunately, try to make themselves interesting to younger women in their own fields. That makes them pathetic AND sexual harassers. I'm talking more about men who are viable vacation flings, which is never your faculty advisor.
For actual relationships. But my hypothetical 42-year old could look 35 or 50. His options for flings depend on which it is. And if he looks 35 and is interesting in some way, he might be a younger woman's trophy rather than the other way around.
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 AM
For actual relationships. But my hypothetical 42-year old could look 35 or 50. His options for flings depend on which it is. And if he looks 35 and is interesting in some way, he might be a younger woman's trophy rather than the other way around.
He's had a bee in his bonnet about low-flow toilets and shower heads for ages. But nobody tells you you can't have water unless you're in a desert or there's a drought. You just have to pay for it, and some people don't want to pay a lot when better technology exists.
November 18, 2025 at 3:33 AM
He's had a bee in his bonnet about low-flow toilets and shower heads for ages. But nobody tells you you can't have water unless you're in a desert or there's a drought. You just have to pay for it, and some people don't want to pay a lot when better technology exists.
The men need to look in the mirror. If he's in their his early 40s, fit, and interesting, he might find a 20-something who's collecting stories for herself. If he's 58 and looks it, he might do okay with 38. But if he's Mick Jagger's age and wants much younger, he'd better BE Mick Jagger.
November 18, 2025 at 3:02 AM
The men need to look in the mirror. If he's in their his early 40s, fit, and interesting, he might find a 20-something who's collecting stories for herself. If he's 58 and looks it, he might do okay with 38. But if he's Mick Jagger's age and wants much younger, he'd better BE Mick Jagger.
Or the ones who inherit after their husbands die. But if they sell and buy elsewhere, then they are single women buying houses.
November 17, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Or the ones who inherit after their husbands die. But if they sell and buy elsewhere, then they are single women buying houses.
My brother's a Yankee by regional standards (although he's Italian-American and not WASP so not everyone in the northeast would agree he qualifies), and he nearly exploded after less than a year in South Carolina. He couldn't take it and moved back north after about 9 months.
November 17, 2025 at 7:48 PM
My brother's a Yankee by regional standards (although he's Italian-American and not WASP so not everyone in the northeast would agree he qualifies), and he nearly exploded after less than a year in South Carolina. He couldn't take it and moved back north after about 9 months.
They're imagining young women who don't want to marry them, and it's steaming them up. That's part of the story, of course. But the stats include single mothers who need to house their kids and divorced or widowed women. Some are selling the big house to buy a condo in an over-55 community.
November 17, 2025 at 7:45 PM
They're imagining young women who don't want to marry them, and it's steaming them up. That's part of the story, of course. But the stats include single mothers who need to house their kids and divorced or widowed women. Some are selling the big house to buy a condo in an over-55 community.
North Carolina is fighting theirs vigorously. But that's not the whole South.
November 17, 2025 at 7:38 PM
North Carolina is fighting theirs vigorously. But that's not the whole South.
It really depends. Virginia is a very bluish purple now and reliably blue in even-numbered years, but Republicans held power longer than they should have by holding state elections in odd-numbered years when turnout under 40% was normal. Georgia seems to be going through its transition now, and
November 17, 2025 at 7:38 PM
It really depends. Virginia is a very bluish purple now and reliably blue in even-numbered years, but Republicans held power longer than they should have by holding state elections in odd-numbered years when turnout under 40% was normal. Georgia seems to be going through its transition now, and
I even heard from young men trying to get launched in science complaining that the foreign male doctoral candidates were funded to an extent that they could afford cleaning service even if they weren't supporting wives. American institutions don't fund anyone, not even men, to that extent.
November 17, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I even heard from young men trying to get launched in science complaining that the foreign male doctoral candidates were funded to an extent that they could afford cleaning service even if they weren't supporting wives. American institutions don't fund anyone, not even men, to that extent.
Halfway may not be enough in every case. But a good sense of what kind of care is needed in which cases could keep a lot of people from the kind of instability that ends up in the criminal justice system.
November 17, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Halfway may not be enough in every case. But a good sense of what kind of care is needed in which cases could keep a lot of people from the kind of instability that ends up in the criminal justice system.
Also mental health care that's separate from the criminal justice system. There may be people who need a structured but humane housing system, and we need to fund and staff that so it isn't the horrifying system activists exposed and shut down.
November 17, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Also mental health care that's separate from the criminal justice system. There may be people who need a structured but humane housing system, and we need to fund and staff that so it isn't the horrifying system activists exposed and shut down.
Also not having that revolting ideology anymore. Separating from Trump the man isn't anywhere near good enough. They have to separate from everything MAGA stands for as well as every damned fool culture war and misguided economic program Republicans have stood for for the past 40 years.
November 17, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Also not having that revolting ideology anymore. Separating from Trump the man isn't anywhere near good enough. They have to separate from everything MAGA stands for as well as every damned fool culture war and misguided economic program Republicans have stood for for the past 40 years.
Great Success of the Republican Party would be a good name for a punk band.
November 17, 2025 at 4:07 AM
Great Success of the Republican Party would be a good name for a punk band.
People want to trash talk immigrants while still hiring them. They also want to believe that somebody in authority knows who's in the country, without necessarily tracking everyone all the time. Trump has overshot his audience on this by a lot.
November 17, 2025 at 4:05 AM
People want to trash talk immigrants while still hiring them. They also want to believe that somebody in authority knows who's in the country, without necessarily tracking everyone all the time. Trump has overshot his audience on this by a lot.
secondary to that, and they often have more to do with bribing people than kidnapping them in the dead of night, but too many people want to separate the two. They want to think there's One Weird Trick to getting rich without doing anything useful, and there isn't.
November 17, 2025 at 4:00 AM
secondary to that, and they often have more to do with bribing people than kidnapping them in the dead of night, but too many people want to separate the two. They want to think there's One Weird Trick to getting rich without doing anything useful, and there isn't.
This is a country of blabbermouths, and most of the conspiracies are right out there in plain sight. Where a lot of money is moving around and no product you could explain to your grandmother from the old country is being produced, that's one of the conspiracies. Sex vices are
November 17, 2025 at 4:00 AM
This is a country of blabbermouths, and most of the conspiracies are right out there in plain sight. Where a lot of money is moving around and no product you could explain to your grandmother from the old country is being produced, that's one of the conspiracies. Sex vices are
They don't have to reinvent this. Career feds already follow financial ethics rules and still invest in broadly diversified stock funds.
If a member of Congress has a spouse with financial interests in a specific industry, perhaps that member should be recused from votes affecting it.
If a member of Congress has a spouse with financial interests in a specific industry, perhaps that member should be recused from votes affecting it.
November 17, 2025 at 3:54 AM
They don't have to reinvent this. Career feds already follow financial ethics rules and still invest in broadly diversified stock funds.
If a member of Congress has a spouse with financial interests in a specific industry, perhaps that member should be recused from votes affecting it.
If a member of Congress has a spouse with financial interests in a specific industry, perhaps that member should be recused from votes affecting it.
Sure, and even if the fantasy is older. A lot of people can think of Paul McCartney in 1970 and say, yeah, that. Even if they were 5 in 1970 and Paul McCartney is in his 80s now. It's imaginary, and people can imagine what they like even if it isn't reasonable or even possible.
November 17, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Sure, and even if the fantasy is older. A lot of people can think of Paul McCartney in 1970 and say, yeah, that. Even if they were 5 in 1970 and Paul McCartney is in his 80s now. It's imaginary, and people can imagine what they like even if it isn't reasonable or even possible.
Long series of novels, also a show on Starz and Netflix. I'm a historical costuming nerd and started watching, then turned to the books. Eventually the offspring of the main couple become active characters, and they can time travel too.
November 17, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Long series of novels, also a show on Starz and Netflix. I'm a historical costuming nerd and started watching, then turned to the books. Eventually the offspring of the main couple become active characters, and they can time travel too.
Outlander is time travel historical fiction. An English nurse who served in World War II travels back to the Scottish highlands in the 1700s. She needs to be under the legal protection of a clan because (spoilers) and so they arrange a marriage for her. Her grubby highlander cleans up VERY well.
November 17, 2025 at 3:39 AM
Outlander is time travel historical fiction. An English nurse who served in World War II travels back to the Scottish highlands in the 1700s. She needs to be under the legal protection of a clan because (spoilers) and so they arrange a marriage for her. Her grubby highlander cleans up VERY well.
Even with that, the tone is changing. Take the core relationship in Outlander. Yes, she was captive and forced into marriage. But the older men who did that chose her a husband who was younger and sexually less experienced than she was, and they did fine after a very awkward start. Also kilts.
November 17, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Even with that, the tone is changing. Take the core relationship in Outlander. Yes, she was captive and forced into marriage. But the older men who did that chose her a husband who was younger and sexually less experienced than she was, and they did fine after a very awkward start. Also kilts.
And can people be manipulated into active, overt racism through propaganda and social pressure (i.e., churches and other community groups)? We know it can happen because otherwise we wouldn't keep making new racists. But it's harder when there's competing input that pulls the other way.
November 17, 2025 at 1:52 AM
And can people be manipulated into active, overt racism through propaganda and social pressure (i.e., churches and other community groups)? We know it can happen because otherwise we wouldn't keep making new racists. But it's harder when there's competing input that pulls the other way.
I grew up in a place where the age of consent was 16, and I never thought anything was wrong with that. But the teacher in his 20s who slept with 17- and 18-year-old students still got the boot, whether they were in his class or not. Because "not a felony" and "okay" are not the same.
November 17, 2025 at 1:42 AM
I grew up in a place where the age of consent was 16, and I never thought anything was wrong with that. But the teacher in his 20s who slept with 17- and 18-year-old students still got the boot, whether they were in his class or not. Because "not a felony" and "okay" are not the same.