Angsty (ideas) on Main

For me today, those circumstances were: Several days of being underslept. Over-stressed. Forgot to take my ADHD meds this morning. Already dealing with the harried mental state of day-before-travel stress. A personal panic trigger of missing appointments because I forgot about them.

We all know by now that the IRS will not call you on the phone. The jury duty people also will not call you on the phone, and this was the crucial piece of information that I did not have cold hard confirmation of today. Here is what happened, so that you can be equipped in case these fuckers call you:

Man with an American accent tells me he's from my city's courthouse. He tells me I missed jury duty summons yesterday and that now I'm in Trouble for contempt of court and failure to appear for jury duty. I protested that I hadn't gotten a notification for jury duty, he talked over me and said scary things about getting law enforcement involved unless I went to pay some fines and talk to the judge Right Now Today. He told me that I legally wasn't allowed to hang up the phone or put it on mute. He told me that I was under a "gag order" and I couldn't tell anyone about this except law enforcement or immediate family members. He already knew my address. He had official-sounding case numbers which he made me write down and repeat back to him. He had official addresses of where I needed to go and what I needed to do: Take the cash for my "fines" to a kiosk where I would pay them and receive a "voucher" that i would then take to the courthouse where I would supposedly speak to a judge. He told me again that if I hung up the phone before I got to the courthouse, it would be taken as obstruction or failure to comply or intent to flee and he would notify the police. He told me that if I went to sort it out with the judge, it might be waived and my money would be refunded.

I have not gotten jury duty summons for a WHILE -- since before the pandemic -- and I had been idly thinking recently that maybe I was due for one. So I heard all this and my panic button about Forgetting/Missing An Appointment got hit dead-on.

I panicked, I was upset and frantic, I was not thinking clearly. This is how they fucking get you.

Honestly, thank god he wanted me to take cash to a different location instead of giving him any financial information over the phone. Thank GOD for that, because it gave my nervous system 30 minutes or so to calm down and my higher brain functions to come back online so that I could notice that there were simply too many red flags in one interaction. I did go to my bank, I did withdraw quite a lot of money in cash.

The address he gave me to go to next was for a gas station. When I expressed confusion, the scammer had smooth explanations, and before I'd even parked, he'd texted me some glossy "official" looking infographics on how to use the kiosk and why the """government""" had started doing payments this way (supposedly a COVID measure, and because the funds were 'safer' or something). The kiosk, these infographic images said, was run by a company called BTC Tech, which they claimed was "Bailing Institute & Technologies". You will notice that that does not match the acronym. The infographic was full of grammatical errors, and thank god he had me sit there in my car and read the whole thing out loud "to make sure i understood it" so that I could hear myself vocally trip over every single one of those grammatical errors and think "Wow, this is weird, it wasn't proofread?"

He sent me a QR code for the ""kiosk"" which had a familiar logo on it. He had persistently asked me for my ETA to the next location, and he was pressuring me to get out of the car and go inside to the kiosk, and it was at this point that I started lying and said, "Sure, hang on one second, i have a pebble in my shoe or something I need to fix first" while I was googling "Bitcoin logo" to verify.

Didn't really need to verify because when I went inside, the only "kiosk" looking thing was an ATM looking thing that had "BITCOIN" written on it in very loud letters. Which brings us to one of two admittedly hilarious interactions, wherein i was standing there in front of the fucking bitcoin machine with my eyes narrowed going, "This is for Bitcoin" several times while he said "No no no no it's not, it's not bitcoin, it's BTC tech" and I kept saying "Well but it says Bitcoin on it in big letters." "No no, it's just a multi-currency system, it's for the courthouse, you have to get the voucher." "Ok but it's fucking BITCOIN, this feels like a scam, I don't think the government uses BITCOIN."

I walked out. I went back to my car. I told him that I wasn't comfortable, and that I needed to call the courthouse to verify with them what the charges were, or I needed to go in person to the courthouse to check what was up. He told me if I hung up, I'd be arrested, and if I stepped foot on government property, I'd be arrested.

It was at this point that I utilized a weapon which in many cases is very dangerous and unethical to use but hey, it's perfect for situations like this: White Lady* Tears. This is exactly the situation they're MEANT for -- buying yourself time to think when a man is strongarming you into meek obedience and fear. (* I am nonbinary but he didn't need to know that.)

Anyway I pretended to cry and told him i felt nauseous and that i was going to be sick and i was just uwu so fwightened and upset and uwu uwu uwu sob sob i felt like he was getting mad at me and it was so scawy oh woe oh no -- while this happened he texted me an arrest warrant that had one of my old roommates' names on it instead of mine, but that EPIC FUMBLE didn't even matter because the whole time I am frantically googling on my phone "jury duty scam" and finding a Reddit page from a guy who posted about the exact same thing happening to him.

I hung up. I called the courthouse, got patched through to the jury pool department, and as soon as the guy picked up, I said, "Hi, my name is Alex, I just got a call saying that I missed jury duty--" and before I could even finish the sentence, the guy said, "That was a scam, we will NEVER call you." I said thank god thank god oh fuck thank god, which brings me to the second hilarious moment of this escapade, where the jury duty guy cheerfully said, "But if you have a couple thousand dollars on you, you can come over and give them to me if you want!" which did make me burst out laughing. Thank you, jury duty guy, for that much-needed moment of levity. I hope you're having a good day.

You are not immune to social engineering. I am 36 years old, highly intelligent, educated, and VERY tech-savvy, and those fuckers STILL caught me at just the right moment and with just the right hook that it triggered panic and desperation and shame and guilt and overrode my critical thinking skills for a solid 30 minutes. If it happened to me, it could happen to you. BE FUCKING VIGILANT. THE IRS WILL NEVER CALL YOU, AND JURY DUTY WILL NEVER CALL YOU.

In hindsight, I'm actually glad that it played out the way it did. For one thing, as a life lesson, that was a pretty cheap one -- all that it cost me was about an hour of my life (including the time it took to go back to the bank and deposit the money I'd withdrawn, gossip extensively to the bank teller about what happened, and get home) and some grey hairs.

For another thing, that fucker spent all that time on the phone with me and didn't get my money. I snatched his smug asshole victory right out of his mouth at the last second and wasted his time -- time that he otherwise ould have spent scamming someone who might not have gotten over their panic in time.

I actually wish that I'd kept him on the phone longer, tbh. If I'd been less rattled, I bet I could have strung him along for another hour or two. Better he spend it with me than with someone else.

Happy to see you back! I’ve gathered some fresh picks for this week’s Feel Good News — let’s spread some smiles together.

1. New York just delivered $189 million in summer food assistance to nearly 1.6 million children this summer, covering the gap left when free school lunch disappears every June

New York State has distributed $189 million in Summer EBT benefits to 1.6 million low-income children, with families able to apply through September 8, 2026.

2. The first 100% effective HIV prevention drug is approved and going global

An epidemic that’s been sustained for 44 years might finally be quelled, with the milestone approval of the first HIV drug that offers 100% protection with its twice-yearly injections. It’s a landmark achievement that stands to save millions of lives across the globe.

3. Portugal’s last circus elephant, Julie, has arrived at Europe’s first large scale elephant sanctuary and is already roaming free and enjoying her first mud bath

Julie, the first resident of the Pangea elephant sanctuary in Évora, Portugal, is enjoying her newfound freedom after being the last circus elephant in the country. Captured in Africa about 40 years ago, she joined the Victor Hugo Cardinali circus in 1988 and remained there until Portugal banned wild animals in circuses in 2018. Julie’s future is uncertain, as elephants born in captivity typically live shorter lives than those in the wild. However, she is adapting well to her new home, where she can choose how to spend her days.

4. Justice Dept. admits Reflecting Pool renovation was flawed, drops case against former Olympian

The Justice Department revealed that President Trump’s $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was poorly executed and acknowledged that the damage was not due to vandalism, as previously claimed. The Department dropped charges against former Olympian David Hearn, who was accused of vandalizing the pool. This admission contradicts Trump’s assertions that vandals were entirely responsible for the pool’s deterioration.

5. More than 3,000 people in Trinidad and Tobago regained their sight through a free cataract and pterygium surgery mission, with hundreds arriving daily and extra tents set up to meet the demand

A lot of the patients had put off care for years because screening and surgery were too expensive, so pre-op screening became a big challenge—many arrived without assessments and the teams had to adapt on the spot. The surgeries were minimally invasive and people saw quick improvements—colors sharper, less night blindness—and they also treated pterygium, that “surfer’s eye” caused by UV, dust and wind. For those folks, this wasn’t just better vision; it was independence and the ability to get back to normal life.

6. Pakistan built 27 gigawatts of distributed solar in just two years, matching the combined capacity of every coal, gas and oil plant it has ever built

In just two years Pakistan’s power story flipped: national electricity use jumped 21% (about 33 TWh) and that growth was basically all from distributed solar — generation went from 15 TWh to 51 TWh while grid output actually fell a bit. Renewables First estimates around 38 GW of distributed solar by June 2025 (about 27 GW of that installed in two years), pushing solar’s share from ~10% to ~28% of generation (roughly 32% if you count avoided transmission losses). That rapid rollout happened because solar got cheap, net-metering and low import taxes made adoption easy, and people were desperate for reliable daytime power.

7. Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossings

In Alta Floresta, efforts to mitigate wildlife-vehicle collisions have been more successful since the installation of canopy bridges in 2024, which have allowed 15,000 safe crossings for arboreal animals without any recorded roadkill. The program, known as Projeto Reconecta, aims to enhance wildlife connectivity and reduce roadkill through further installations and collaboration with local stakeholders.

———-

That’s it for last week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation here:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Our world map today looks completely different from how it looked a thousand years ago. Nations and empires have risen and collapsed. Wars have been waged over petty bullshit that changed names and borders. Empires that were once thought invincible and perpetual crumbled to dust within a peasant's lifetime as they tilled their fields and worried about crop failure. The invention of flight, motion pictures, and the automobile chased the coattails of WWI and the great depression. Children played mischief games and elders complained about kids these days being too soft and sensitive during the fall of the Roman empire.

World War II was uniquely terrible and we know it ended in 1945 and was followed by an era of huge economic growth in the west.

I think it's important to keep perspective on this not only to make some plans for your own life, but because there is purpose in engaging with politics and the small footprint you can leave on your community right now.

Yes it's worth it to pressure your local government to move in the right direction for important issues, yes it's worth it to come together with local non-profits, friends or neighbors to tackle an issue close to your heart. That is how change happens.