ICYMU: This Week in Gnuville
In case you missed us: Miss a day or two? Need more Good News? Need a respite from ruin scrolling? New to Good News Roundups? Kicking doom scrolling out of your life?
Massively great week of Roundups brought to us by our authors!:
Image: Three writers of Good News Roundups stand in front of a good gnu. Image titled "Good Gnus by 2thanks, chloris creator, and Mokurai." Created by Edward Song, 2024. Thank you, Edward!
The Five R’s of the Resistance:
I’ve repeated these for many years. I’ve added boycott.
- Resist: Boycott, protest on the streets, call senators and representatives, etc.
- Rebel: Run for office, GOTV (Get Out The Vote), support a progressive.
- Revolt: Change the laws, change the culture, build your communities.
- Rely: Trust that millions of others are fighting the good fight.
- Rest: Take care of yourself, we are in this for the long term.
WineRev’s Good and Goofy Notes
Watch for WineRev’s History Corner in the comments to see what others went through, struggled with, and surmounted in the past. His G&G comments are mini Good News Roundups. You can find all his comments here, even today’s, once he posts it. Tech Tip: You can search for >>> in Roundups to quickly find his comments.
WineRev, last Sunday:
There they are…….on the horizon of the savannah, making their way past the acacia trees, and getting multiple prints in the Sunday Good News Round Up: YEP! Its…….the Gnusies……. IOW...YOU! We see you on the move and now turning this way to the Round Up because…..The Gnuville Breakfast Brunch has gotten the walkie-talkie notice from 2thanks to send up the welcoming flares, unfurl the banners, open the corral gate and fill the watering troughs. So please, c’mon in. Shake off the dust, slip off the hooves for slippers, have a little wash or a big shower, and then stroll in.
The Breakfast Brunch beverage station has the coffee, tea and mocha-cocoa at the ready, while the mimosa bar crew are welcoming others with a wave, a smile, a wipe of the bar, that little paper napkin in front of the stool you are angling toward, and a hearty, “Hi! What’ll you have?”
The Steam Table Staffers are gently clanging metal spatulas on flat-top griddles and fry pans while eggs, bacon, vegan meats, cheese sprinkles all cook with a hiss to produce omelettes, eggs and scrambles. Eggs any way you like them are on offer, and the breakfast bake casserole and toaster fare and micro-zapped goodies are all at your command.
Let the staff put it all on a tray and follow you in to the Democracy On Safari Lounge. Put your feet up and your backside down on a recliner, sofa, rocker or wingback, pull up your pixel screen to catch the WiFi, and settle in to sip and munch. There are stories to read, recs to make, links to click, chuckles to chuck, replies, questions, and digressions…...and you get to do this among your fellow Herd Members. They are the ones waving welcome, offering fist-bumps or handshakes, a pat on the back, or even their shoulder to cry on.
Very glad you made it here for the solace and uplift. And you being here and chipping in are solace and uplift to those who read you, and go away strengthened. Thank you each and all----and let us lift drinks on high to thank 2thanks for our Sunday launch!
Science
Please share good science news with us! (Especially JSWT, health, environment.)
A good place to look for science news if you are waiting for the Sunday Roundup is the archive of Overnight News Digest. On Saturdays, the OND always focuses on science, though not all of it is devoted to what I would call Good Science News.
Need more good news?
… arhpdx posted a list of good news sites toward the top of a recent Roundup, or you can find that same list in my comment: Good News Sources. Thank you, arhpdx and Mokurai!
[On a desktop, you could open that comment in a new Tab by clicking the timestamp, and then you could Bookmark that page or save it to your Favorites.]
Our map of Gnuville: 895 of us have shared our global locations!
To leave your mark, please Reply in the comments to tljdk or the map-building comment. Please indicate only your general location, NOT street number and street. (Please persist, we are volunteers.)
Image: Screenshot of the Google Map of the world showing locations of members of Daily Kos's Gnuville (the Good News Roundup group) on 14 May 2023. You can use the map’s zoom arrows to resize the view and focus on your pin to find neighbors. Please note that the Google Map, though convenient to operate, is visually inaccurate because, among other issues, it enlarges North America and shrinks Africa [Maps present a distorted view of the world by kos].
If you join us regularly, are you Following us? More than 490 Kosacks Follow us.
Tech Talk for Kosacks
- Got a Daily Kos tech question? Let us know. No question is too basic.
- Solved a tech question recently? Please
brag mentor in the comments.
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On creating tables in Daily Kos
It's much easier to make a table in a Google doc than in a Daily Kos comment, draft, or diary. You can create a table in a Google Doc and copy it to Daily Kos. See below, next section.
Computer Wiz 💨 ✅
Edgar Allen Poe. Found in the Daily Kos Image Library. With thanks to BeeD. (Sending waves of healing thoughts to BeeD, our friend, for posting this image. Long time no see, last comment, September, 2024.)
For the love of God, Montresor,* my friends, keep learning to use shortcuts on PCs and Macs. On review, quick basics:
(Macs use the Command key (⌘) instead of the Ctrl key.)
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Shortcuts
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Function
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Ctrl + Z
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Undo
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Ctrl + Y
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Redo
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Ctrl + C
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Copy selection
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Ctrl + X
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Cut selection
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Ctrl + V
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Paste clipboard
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* = Six memorable words by Edgar Allen Poe in “The Cask of Amontillado.” By the way, Montresor means “my treasure” in French.
My 3 keys to productivity:
- Key, don’t click.
- Keyboard shortcuts are quicker than clicking menus.
- Clicking menus is like using training wheels on a bicycle, useful for beginners but a slowdown for experienced bikers.
- Learn your shortcuts.
- Learn the keyboard shortcuts for the common commands you use in all your programs.
- Find your keys.
- Use an Internet Search to find the shortcuts you need:
- To find a list of shortcuts, for example, search for “List of Gmail shortcuts”
- To find specific shortcuts, for example, search for “Keyboard shortcut to Send Gmail”
- Feel for the special keys, don’t look at them.
If you have questions or suggestions or note errors, please let me know.
Please see my plea below.
Where Ever is Herd
Morning Good News Roundups at 7 x 7: These Gnusies lead the herd at 7 a.m. ET, 7 days a week:
- Mondays The GNR Newsroom (Jessiestaf, Killer300, and Bhu)
- Tuesdays arhpdx and niftywriter
- Wednesdays: 1st Wednesday, different authors, 2nd MCUBernieFan, 3rd WineRev, 4th and 5th alamancedem
- Thursdays Mokurai
- Fridays chloris creator, regular links to the White House Briefing Room.
- Saturdays GoodNewsRoundup, the one and only!
- Sundays 2thanks — A brief roundup of Roundups, a retrospective, a smorgasbord, a bulletin board, an oasis, a watering hole, a thunder of hooves, a wellness, a place for beginners to learn the rules of the veldt. For instance, we do not welcome grammar-police comments in Roundups.
Nanny Ogg posts Evening Shade diaries at 7:30 p.m. ET every day but Sunday. Girasol posts the Evening Shades on Sundays. After a long day, Gnusies meet in the evening shade and continue sharing Good News, good community, good actions, FAFO activities of tfg, and many cats. Find most Evening Shades on the Trending List.
For more information about the Good News group, please see our detailed Welcoming comment, one of the first comments in our morning diaries.
How to Resist: Do Something …
Lily Tomlin as Ernestine, telephone operator. With thanks to xaxnar
To figure out my script for phone calls every day, I rely on the following sources:
- Chop Wood, Carry Water
- Common Cause. My political comrade and wife forwards these emails to me.
- Where do you get YOUR daily calling scripts from?
Here’s how to make 3 calls in less than 5 minutes:
Two major shortcuts to call your 3 Reps every day in less than 5 minutes (same link as above). Please feel free to copy my personal script and make it yours. No charge.
"Thanks2, 2thanks, especially for sharing your call script! It’s really well thought out and perfectly stated, and I will happily borrow from it. I also love your hack for finding your Electeds’ phone numbers quickly on your phone — brilliant." ~ Gnusie arhpdx, Mar 16, 2025 [Thank you to you, arhpdx!]
Notes on my calling shortcuts and tips:
- If you do not have 5 minutes all in a row, you can call three times during the day when you have 90 seconds free. Please do not call while driving. Call with a friend. Call on a bus. Call when waiting for a meal at a restaurant. Call from the bathroom. Usual cautions apply. You get the picture.
- Call when the offices are closed. It's faster when you do that because you do not have to wait for the staff member to respond.
- Call for a spouse or friend unable to call, and double your power. Give their name and address too.
- You can express your anger in your of tone of voice in a recording. This can be therapeutic! Say you are angry. Claim your power.
- Break out of anger voice at the end of the call and switch to a gentle, kind, and loving voice to express gratitude to the staff and the Elected in these trying and not-normal times.
Time yourself and let us know! I will time myself this week.
Jamie Raskin filed a formal demand for access to his personal data obtained by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk. He encourages all U.S. citizens to do the same.
Here’s the link to Jamie’s
FOIA pdf. It includes the DOGE/USDS (United States Digital Service) addresses along with the “Privacy Act Access Request” he sent. It is a good sample to base your submission on. It says The form must be signed and snail mailed.
Action Steps from Gnusies
Six of our Good News writers regularly post a panoply of fantastic action steps in their Good News Roundups. If you don’t see a way to become active that suits your personality, your funds, or your time, please review their most recent diaries for many different options to volunteer and/or donate:
On Daily Kos:
Looking at you, listening for your comment. On the horn of a gnumt/?
… Say Something
We welcome certain comments in Roundups every day regarding:
- National or local Good News.
- Links, stories, music, videos, quotes, and posts from Bluesky. No tweets.
- Your resistance activity.
- Admins and 96% of Gnusies do NOT want images of the lying conman in diaries or comments.
In my Sunday smorgasbord Roundups, I especially welcome the following types of comments:
Who won YOUR week?
- Questions about Daily Kos tech issues or our map.
- Good News Roundups and you.
- How are you resisting?
- How are you supporting Democratic candidates?
- Please let’s stick to Good News today, no mews or databases.
In the comments of all Roundups, we do not welcome Grammar Police or Debbie Downers.
Notes on Images
Top Image: Our Starhawk created the above this detailed sketch of a gnu in brown, green, and black on white. A happy and dynamic gnu rises on a hind leg in a classic heraldric rampant stance. Joyful letters prance above and behind the mane: “Happy Dance.” Signature: Nick Korolev, 2021. — Thank you, Starhawk, for our dancing gnu!
Section-Divider Images: On the far horizon, we see gnus ranging across the veld, a few acacia trees, and sunlit desert hills. [Copyright © 2024 2thanks, a member of dailykos.com. All Rights Reserved. Use is permitted on dailykos.com in articles by authors of the Good News Roundups. 2thanks.dkos@gmail.com.]
A Little Bit About Me
Because my grandmother had severe disfiguring arthritis of the hands, and because I'm getting up there in age, and because I’ve been having very mild pain in both wrists and knees, I decided to go to a doctor to get a prescription for rehab for my wrists and knees. The doctor was pleased that I had come in to see him long before these issues became major problems. He said some people wait until the only thing he can do is surgery, the last item on his list of interventions. I've been to an excellent rehab therapist at Athletico in Ypsilanti. Expert physical therapist Ben gave me homework exercises on Thursday: Simple and easy movements to be done every day with small weights, pillows, and putty.
So now, though I’ve never been a jock, I’m doing a lot of exercising!:
- Core exercises: 20 to 25 minutes 3 days a week, alternating with swimming.
- Swimming: Sets of laps in the pool, varying in duration based on interval-training guidelines, 1 hour of swimming 3 days a week, 2,000 yards per day.
- Pre-swimming exercises: Dynamic motions to warm up joints and muscles, mentored by my new friend, a swimming coach.
- Yoga: 30 minutes everyday, teaching individual and/or group yoga online occasionally.
- Exercises from my excellent physical therapist at Athletico in Ypsilanti, every day.
Our Roundup is almost open!
Thank you for fighting for truth and justice with all us Gnusies! 40% of our Readers don’t visit every day, 50% of us do, and 10% are here for the first time! We all do what we can. Since 2017, we’ve shared positive news, laughed, organized, resisted, rebelled, revolted without being revolting, relied, rested, mentored, created, crossed rivers, chewed our cud, puffed methane out both ends, and laughed. Here’s looking at you, kid, and standing upwind! Beginners, you are cordially invited to comment!
As always, please share more Good News than I can find or provide.
This is a group diary, and by my power I declare this Good Gnus Salo(o)n open! Let the good-news sharing and community building begin!
Power with, not power over ❤️ ✊ ❤️
2thanks (he, him)
An Activist's Prayer:
To the Fearless Women Who Came Before—and Stand Among—Us
O Spirit of Resistance,
we call upon the courage of Harriet Tubman,
who walked through darkness with only the light of freedom to guide her.
May her fire burn in us as we move through fear toward justice.
We call upon the truth of Ida B. Wells,
who wielded words like weapons to expose cruelty and demand dignity.
May her voice echo in ours as we speak out against lies, hatred, and bigotry.
We call upon the boldness of Shirley Chisholm,
who was unbought and unbossed in halls of Congress built to keep her out.
May her defiance strengthen our spine as we stand against authoritarian rule.
We call upon the passion of Greta Thunberg,
whose clarity and moral conviction broke through global apathy.
May her fearlessness in the face of power inspire us to speak urgent truths to a burning world.
We call upon the vision of Dolores Huerta,
who organized hands and hearts into a movement that could not be ignored.
May her spirit guide us as we build power from the ground up.
We call upon the wisdom of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
who carved justice from stone and refused to yield.
May her clarity of purpose be our compass in this fight for our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy.
We call upon the fire of Angela Davis,
who taught us that radical simply means grasping things at the root.
May her radical love guide us as we uproot oppression in all its forms.
We call upon the tenacity of Nancy Pelosi,
who broke barriers and stared down corruption with a gavel in hand and grit in her heart.
May her strategic strength and unwavering leadership remind us that discipline is power.
We call upon the strength of Malala Yousafzai,
who rose from violence with an unshaken voice for girls' education and equality.
May her bravery inspire us to protect the vulnerable and confront tyranny and attacks on education.
We call upon the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer,
who was sick and tired of being sick and tired—and still kept going.
May her endurance fortify our spirits as we fight voter suppression and the attacks on our community.
We call upon the resolve of Cassidy Hutchinson,
who risked everything to tell the truth when it mattered most.
May her integrity give us the courage to speak out—no matter the cost.
We call upon every unnamed woman and man
who resisted quietly, marched loudly, mothered movements, sacrificed without thanks, and loved fiercely and without fear.
May they surround us now.
Protect us from despair.
Empower us to speak boldly.
Guide us to show up, speak out, and build power so that all can be treated with dignity and have the opportunity to thrive.
Inspire us to build power rooted in liberty, freedom, and justice for all.
We reject the lies of fascism.
We reject the cult of obedience.
We reject the politics of cruelty and control.
With the strength of our foremothers,
the bravery of those beside us,
and the vision of generations yet to come,
We rise.
We resist.
We reclaim.
Amen.
Thank You: Many regular Roundup readers know that I’m the co-founding Admin and background mentor of this group, and over the years I’ve participated in and led this and other Daily Kos groups that have raised almost $1,000,000 for candidates, individuals, and groups. In response to my previous requests, many sent me gifts. Thank you!
I’ve been asking for help to pay for my wife’s medical treatments. If you value my gifts and activism, please don’t patronize me, but be my patron. Gift me via PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp, or send me a kosmail for my address. If you cannot do that, I sure understand. Perhaps instead you could boost this story onsite or online. If you already sent me a gift, I bow deeply in gratitude. ~2thanks
![Colorful sketch of a wildebeest by Starhawk, a side view of a happy, dynamic gnu dancing on one hind leg. A classic heraldric pose of a beast in rampant position. Image bears a hand-written title, "Happy Dance,". The lettering is joyful. Image created by Starhawk of Daily Kos. Uploaded 03-07-2021. Presented as a gift to all members of the Good News Roundup team. Tags Good News Roundups Gnus Gnusies Newsies gnhap](https://cdn.prod.dailykos.com/images/924811/story_image/GnuHappyDance.jpg?1615144457 "Colorful sketch of a wildebeest by Starhawk, a side view of a happy, dynamic gnu dancing on one hind leg. A classic heraldric pose of a beast in rampant position. Image bears a hand-written title, "Happy Dance,". The lettering is joyful. Image created by Starhawk of Daily Kos. Uploaded 03-07-2021. Presented as a gift to all members of the Good News Roundup team. Tags Good News Roundups Gnus Gnusies Newsies gnhap")
