Kind: Reads

reading a book, magazine, newspaper, other physical document, or online post
Read My Visit to the Trans-Inclusive Vagina Museum by Michaela YoungMichaela Young (4W - Feminist News)
Placards declare "Menstrual blood is the equivalent of semen" and all references to women are removed

Well, this was illuminating. I had no idea TERFs hated trans-men as much as they hated trans-women. Obviously (?) I’m no expert but I struggle to see how the feminist principles that identify trans-women as a further degradation of female make sense in reverse. If anything the “trans-inclusive” nature of the Vagina Museum is to support “men who mensturate” and focus on physiology rather than sex/gender. If TERFs regard trans-women as men, then surely trans-men are simply women like any other? I guess that’s the TERF objection, then; the museum should be, in their view, intrinsically and overtly about women.

Read Parents working from home is affecting school attendance, says Ofsted chief by Geneva Abdul (The Guardian)

“[After the pandemic] suddenly people were used to working from home and in many cases I don’t think there was that same desire to have their child in school while they were at home,” he said.

I assume this is asserted without any evidence. Clearly this person never tried to work from home with children around.

Read Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally by Martin Pengelly (The Guardian)

Waking up to videos of Elon Musk doing Nazi salutes on the podium at a US presidential inauguration; what a way to start the day!

I saw the stills, I thought “Nah, that’s been taken out of context.” Then I saw the video and an actual feeling of dread settled in my stomach.

It doesn’t even matter if it was really just a deliberately provocative prank.

Read Microsoft starts boiling the Copilot frog: It's not a soup you want to drink at any price by Rupert Goodwins (The Register)

I work with data in the UK public sector. For me, the accuracy of that data is paramount. I’ve certainly been in roles where the accuracy of the data was an unwelcome fact. While that’s not the case in my current role, I do have general concerns about the employment of AI in this area. This is along the lines of:

“We know it’s not completely accurate, but we also know no-one is really looking at it too closely, so what is the value of being accurate?”

Read Folklore is thriving on social media, says Charlie Cooper (BBC News)
The Bafta winner speaks about his new show and why young people are getting interested in folklore.

I like to think of it as a backlash against commercial and globalisation. It’s a popular refrain from the right that we’ve lost our British identity. I’m not sure which identity that is, though, and people that say it also seem to struggle to define it. Presumably an ideal from some point in the 19th century, when “red tape” and “wokeness” didn’t stop people making money. I can understand why reaching back before the “Age of Discovery” for some shared identity would appeal to people.

I feel similarly with paganism and the import of Christianity. When you consider the population of the UK was already 75% immigrants circa 400-800 CE/AD and you consider that Stonehenge was completed circa 1600 BCE/BC, it’s tricky to track down your cultural heritage.

Read Teenagers will always get drunk – so why don’t we just serve them in pubs? by Zoe Williams (The Guardian)

Several things:

Firstly, how has this article been written without reference to Hot Fuzz?

Secondly, it’s not a bad idea. Especially considering:

If you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can [already] drink beer, wine or cider with a meal.

Seems reasonable, right?

But, the major problem is that this does not remove the need for ID checks. Set the age at 16, you’ll get 13-14 year olds trying it on.

What we, in the UK, really need is culture shift where being falling down drunk is not tolerated and for landlords to abide by their license and stop serving such persons alchohol.