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You can find more info on my userinfo page - but this is just here to say that I'm very happy to be friended by anyone that wants to read me. I rarely post friends-only, and that only tends to be about things that mention work, so if I don't friend you back you're not actually missing much...
If you do friend me, this would be a good place to leave a comment introducing yourself, and letting me know how you found me!
I have lots of awesome friends - if you want to make a few more then take a look at here for Dreamwidth, add a few people, and leave comment so people can add you too.
The links posts come from my page at Pinboard and are posted to DW via a web app which I wrote and runs as a daily PowerShell job on Azure. You can grab it to run yourself from here.
A note on correcting people's grammar in the comments.
Official Spoiler Policy.
Interesting Links for 04-11-2025
Nov. 4th, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. Dungeons & Dragons is great for brain health (particularly the elderly and people with disabilities)
- (tags:dungeonsanddragons mentalhealth entertainment )
- 2. NHS threatens GP practice over trans care
- (tags:transgender UK bigotry healthcare OhForFucksSake )
- 3. Cambridge University's oldest women-only college, Newnham, stands firm for trans inclusion
- (tags:transgender Cambridge university GoodNews )
- 4. Novel peanut allergy vaccine shows promise to transform allergy care
- (tags:allergies vaccine )
- 5. Petition to make schools in Scotland safe for pupils with allergies
- (tags:allergies scotland school petition )
- 6. 20% of US UTIs are caused by contimated meat
- (tags:usa meat food infection )
- 7. When Stick Figures Fought (A history of the stick figure combat flash animations of the early 200s)
- (tags:history fighting animation web Flash )
- 8. The password for the Louvre's Video Surveillance System was "Louvre"
- (tags:art museums security epicfail france )
Tags:
- allergies,
- animation,
- art,
- bigotry,
- cambridge,
- dungeonsanddragons,
- entertainment,
- epicfail,
- fighting,
- flash,
- food,
- france,
- goodnews,
- healthcare,
- history,
- infection,
- links,
- meat,
- mentalhealth,
- museums,
- ohforfuckssake,
- petition,
- school,
- scotland,
- security,
- transgender,
- uk,
- university,
- usa,
- vaccine,
- web
Interesting Links for 03-11-2025
Nov. 3rd, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. A Review of Grokipedia
- (tags:ai wiki encyclopedia )
- 2. We Don't Take Covid Seriously Enough (lots and lots of research condensed here)
- (tags:Pandemic doom )
- 3. Linux gamers on Steam finally cross over the 3% mark
- (tags:gaming linux steam )
- 4. The FT is now asking when the AI bubble will burst.
- (tags:finance economics ai doom bubble )
Thoughts on the way home.
Nov. 1st, 2025 05:43 pmGlasgow still feels much more city-like to me than Edinburgh.
Which is probably why I prefer living in Edinburgh.
(Great to visit though)
Which is probably why I prefer living in Edinburgh.
(Great to visit though)
Photo cross-post
Nov. 1st, 2025 12:04 pm
Sophia and Gideon making the DNA for their respective eye colours.
(First ever trip to the Glasgow Science Centre, it was awesome)
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
Interesting Links for 31-10-2025
Oct. 31st, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. Tonne of fireworks seized near Edinburgh ahead of Bonfire Night disorder campaign
- (tags:edinburgh riots fireworks doom )
- 2. 'Doctor Who': Why Disney Ditched Deal With BBC For Sci-Fi Series
- (tags:Disney BBC drwho )
- 3. How the cochlea computes
- (tags:sound hearing Technology )
- 4. How Ancient People Saw Themselves (a history of mirrors)
- (tags:mirrors history archeology )
Life with two kids: Wednesday shoes
Oct. 30th, 2025 05:45 pmThis morning Sophia announced, as we were about to leave the house, that she couldn't find her school shoes.
Her black school shoes.
The ones that are and integral part of her Wednesday costume. For the school Halloween disco. This evening.
Jane and I frantically tore the house apart for fifteen minutes and checked *everywhere*. Eventually we forced her, crying, to put on her trainers, promising her that if her shoes turned up we would bring them in to her.
Because we left fifteen minutes late we missed the bus. And so it was that we were halfway through the walk to school when Sophia quietly said "Oh."
And then told me that she'd just remembered that yesterday she'd come home from school in her welly boots, leaving her shoes at her peg.
You'll be delighted to hear that I didn't murder her.
Her black school shoes.
The ones that are and integral part of her Wednesday costume. For the school Halloween disco. This evening.
Jane and I frantically tore the house apart for fifteen minutes and checked *everywhere*. Eventually we forced her, crying, to put on her trainers, promising her that if her shoes turned up we would bring them in to her.
Because we left fifteen minutes late we missed the bus. And so it was that we were halfway through the walk to school when Sophia quietly said "Oh."
And then told me that she'd just remembered that yesterday she'd come home from school in her welly boots, leaving her shoes at her peg.
You'll be delighted to hear that I didn't murder her.
Interesting Links for 29-10-2025
Oct. 29th, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. Labour Deputy Lucy Powell says EHRC's single-sex spaces draft is 'not right'
- (tags:LGBT transgender GoodNews bigotry UK labour )
- 2. Nearly 90% of Windows Games now run on Linux, latest data shows
- (tags:games windows Linux )
- 3. A satellite runs Doom from orbit, using Ubuntu on Arm
- (tags:space doom games )
Interesting Links for 27-10-2025
Oct. 27th, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. 4 Halloween Costumes That'll Make Him Say 'Oh Cool Yeah I Haven't Seen that Show'
- (tags:Halloween costumes funny TV )
- 2. Time Immemorial turns 750: The Medieval law that froze history at 1189
- (tags:history law UK viaPatrickHadfield )
- 3. Why Warm Countries Are Poorer
- (tags:poverty economics geography temperature disease trade )
- 4. Chatbots Are Repeating Sanctioned Russian Propaganda
- (tags:russia ai propaganda )
- 5. Megafauna was the meat of choice for South American hunters
- (tags:prehistory SouthAmerica food animals )
Tags:
- ai,
- animals,
- costumes,
- disease,
- economics,
- food,
- funny,
- geography,
- halloween,
- history,
- law,
- links,
- poverty,
- prehistory,
- propaganda,
- russia,
- southamerica,
- temperature,
- trade,
- tv,
- uk,
- viapatrickhadfield
There's research that if you leave people in a room with an electro-shock shock device long enough to get bored they will deliberately shock themselves.
In other news I took Sophia's phone away from the kids while they were in the bath and now they're repeatedly pouring cold water over themselves while shrieking like baboons.
In other news I took Sophia's phone away from the kids while they were in the bath and now they're repeatedly pouring cold water over themselves while shrieking like baboons.
Interesting Links for 25-10-2025
Oct. 25th, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. The nerdiest music video of all time
- (tags:wargames video music history uk france )
- 2. The Reform Backlash: Caerphilly By-Election Result Shows Nigel Farage's Party Is Much Weaker Than It Looks
- (tags:politics uk wales )
- 3. 'Mind-boggling' poker fraud used X-ray tables, high-tech glasses and NBA players
- (tags:poker fraud mafia )
- 4. Armed police surround teen after AI mistakes crisp packet for gun
- (tags:ai guns epicfail )
- 5. Bad therapy is causing 'emotional Thatcherism'
- (tags:therapy counselling society )
- 6. What the new Northern Cyprus election result means
- (tags:Cyprus turkey )
- 7. ChatGPT's Atlas: The Browser That's Anti-Web
- (tags:viaPatrickHadfield browser OhForFucksSake ai )
- 8. Bosses of Dungeons & Dragons club in £150k court fight sparked by alleged 'dungeonmaster cuddle'
- (tags:roleplaying business law UK )
Photo cross-post
Oct. 25th, 2025 10:29 am
One of these children won at Ticket To Ride: First Journey, the
other...did not.
Original
is here on Pixelfed.scot.
Interesting Links for 23-10-2025
Oct. 23rd, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. Settlers of Catan has been licensed by Netflix. I look forward to finding out the true lore behind "I've got wood for sheep".
- (tags:netflix SettlersOfCatan EpicWTF games tv )
- 2. Tracking down the Romans who survived the AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius
- (tags:Rome history volcano viaPatrickHadfield )
- 3. Largest study of its kind shows AI assistants misrepresent news content 45% of the time
- (tags:ai news fraud )
- 4. Brainwave study sheds light on cause of 'hearing voices' in schizophrenic people
- (tags:hearing schizophrenia )
- 5. Amazon unveils prototype AI smart glasses for its delivery drivers
- (tags:cameras Amazon technology delivery )
- 6. How to get men to share their feelings, by an Army psychologist
- (tags:psychology emotion men advice )
Tags:
- advice,
- ai,
- amazon,
- cameras,
- delivery,
- emotion,
- epicwtf,
- fraud,
- games,
- hearing,
- history,
- links,
- men,
- netflix,
- news,
- psychology,
- rome,
- schizophrenia,
- settlersofcatan,
- technology,
- tv,
- viapatrickhadfield,
- volcano
Interesting Links for 22-10-2025
Oct. 22nd, 2025 12:00 pm- 1. Cancer patients who got a mRNA vaccine lived nearly twice as long - even though the vaccine wasn't aimed at cancer.
- (tags:cancer immune_system viaKenny vaccine GoodNews )
- 2. Penguin and Club biscuit bars can no longer be described as chocolate
- The price of cocoa has soared by 4x, and the amount of chocolate in a biscuit has dropped significantly.
(tags:chocolate food biscuits ) - 3. If you're still using Windows 10 (like me!) make sure you've signed up for Extended Support Updates to protect you from security issues
- (tags:Windows security )
- 4. Pop quiz: who is the only scientist to have won both an Ig Nobel and a Nobel prize?
- (tags:science nobel graphene frog magnets levitation )
- 5. If Labour want more houses then they need to stop mucking about with consents and put up the cash
- (tags:money housing uk )
- 6. Brexit has been awesome - for making Europe less divided
- (tags:uk europe )
- 7. Kew woman fined £150 for pouring coffee down a street drain
- (tags:waste water location regulation UK London )
- 8. Humans can absorbe oxygen anally
- (tags:humans oxygen bodies )
- 9. Lawsuit alleges Prime Day is a fraud
- (tags:USA Amazon fraud shopping )
Tags:
My thinking on transgender issues
Oct. 22nd, 2025 09:46 amEvery so often I see some politician Gotcha'd with "Can women have penises?" - and the results have always either be flailing or in a very rare case (new Greens leader Zack Polanski) just saying "Yes", in a way which basically hands everything to the interviewer.
And I know that it's really hard to deal with an interviewer who is determined to make you look bad. But it bothers me occasionally that people don't try and explain "But here is my point of view, and where it comes from" - because while saying "Yes" might be very reassuring to people already on your side, it does nothing to persuade others who are just confused by/mildly hostile.
So here, in a simple set of 4 steps is my view.
1) Nobody is choosing to be transgender. It's a difference in brain development.
See here. This isn't new, it's the medical view, and has been for many years.
2) Forcing people to live in the gender that they don't identify as is incredibly destructive to their mental health.
This is also long well known. The vast majority of attempts to raise boys as girls and vice versa have appalling impacts on people. The poster-boy for this was David Reimer, who suffered a terrible accident as a baby which destroyed his penis (in the 60s), never knew he was born a boy, and was raised a girl (on the advice of a doctor who believes that gender was just cultural conditioning). And it made him *incredibly* unhappy - within weeks of his parents breaking the rules they'd been given and telling him (at age 13) that he had been born a boy he'd changed his name and presentation. Details here.
3) Most transgender people are not publicly out.
You might get the impression that trans people are all out activists. But the vast majority aren't. They don't want to be "The person who was born one way and is now another", they want to be the person that they are on the inside. So almost nobody they interact with on a daily basis knows that they are transgender. The ones where "Everyone knows about this transgender person" are the exception, most of them are not public about it. As a friend said "My identity is female and back when I transitioned the advice was to deal and vanish into the big bad women's world."
4) Therefore, as a society, we have a choice between either forcibly outing people whenever they want to use a toilet, get married, throw a ball, or otherwise interact with society, or letting them live in the gender that they are presenting*.
There you go. That's the humane, liberal approach to transgender people. And every time you get hooked into arguments about the definition of the word "woman", you get pulled away from those very simple things: Nobody asked to be born in a body that destroys their mental health. Most people don't want to be public about that having happened to them (because it stops them just living as the gender they are in their brains). So we can either be supportive or we can torture them.
*And that's the approach that the European Court of Human Rights took, in Goodwin vs The United Kingdom in 2001. They balanced the right of someone to not have to out themselves, against the the negative consequences thereof. And found that the proven negative consequences were basically nonexistent. Which is what then led to Labour being forced to pass the Gender Recognition Act. The rights coming from that, to live in the gender that you choose, are what is currently under attack.
And I know that it's really hard to deal with an interviewer who is determined to make you look bad. But it bothers me occasionally that people don't try and explain "But here is my point of view, and where it comes from" - because while saying "Yes" might be very reassuring to people already on your side, it does nothing to persuade others who are just confused by/mildly hostile.
So here, in a simple set of 4 steps is my view.
1) Nobody is choosing to be transgender. It's a difference in brain development.
See here. This isn't new, it's the medical view, and has been for many years.
2) Forcing people to live in the gender that they don't identify as is incredibly destructive to their mental health.
This is also long well known. The vast majority of attempts to raise boys as girls and vice versa have appalling impacts on people. The poster-boy for this was David Reimer, who suffered a terrible accident as a baby which destroyed his penis (in the 60s), never knew he was born a boy, and was raised a girl (on the advice of a doctor who believes that gender was just cultural conditioning). And it made him *incredibly* unhappy - within weeks of his parents breaking the rules they'd been given and telling him (at age 13) that he had been born a boy he'd changed his name and presentation. Details here.
3) Most transgender people are not publicly out.
You might get the impression that trans people are all out activists. But the vast majority aren't. They don't want to be "The person who was born one way and is now another", they want to be the person that they are on the inside. So almost nobody they interact with on a daily basis knows that they are transgender. The ones where "Everyone knows about this transgender person" are the exception, most of them are not public about it. As a friend said "My identity is female and back when I transitioned the advice was to deal and vanish into the big bad women's world."
4) Therefore, as a society, we have a choice between either forcibly outing people whenever they want to use a toilet, get married, throw a ball, or otherwise interact with society, or letting them live in the gender that they are presenting*.
There you go. That's the humane, liberal approach to transgender people. And every time you get hooked into arguments about the definition of the word "woman", you get pulled away from those very simple things: Nobody asked to be born in a body that destroys their mental health. Most people don't want to be public about that having happened to them (because it stops them just living as the gender they are in their brains). So we can either be supportive or we can torture them.
*And that's the approach that the European Court of Human Rights took, in Goodwin vs The United Kingdom in 2001. They balanced the right of someone to not have to out themselves, against the the negative consequences thereof. And found that the proven negative consequences were basically nonexistent. Which is what then led to Labour being forced to pass the Gender Recognition Act. The rights coming from that, to live in the gender that you choose, are what is currently under attack.
