Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement

Lovely @iandunt.bsky.social —you’ve been a brilliant ally to the trans+ community over the last few years.
The @nionwomen.bsky.social open letter is now just a few hundred signatures away from a MASSIVE milestone.
Would you re-share to help us get there? 🙏🙏🙏 Thank you!
🩵🩶💛💗
notinourname.org.uk

AI learns language from skewed sources. That could change how we humans speak – and think | Bruce Schneier Large language models aren’t trained on real-life conversations. As we encounter their language, it could affect our own

Oh:

A 2022 study found that children in households that used voice commands with tools like Siri and Alexa became curt when speaking with humans, often calling out “Hey, do X” and expecting obedience, especially from anyone whose voice resembled the default-female electronic voices.

I personally think not safe to remain in any personal relationship with anyone who is using LLMs to analyze your relationship, make conclusions about your motives, or determine how to treat you. I think this is beyond red flag—it should be an immediate dealbreaker.

a just and loving god would have let Hilary Mantel live to hear “the pope is weak on crime”

Accommodation should have been made for her. Anyone who has ever been in the state of mind she was clearly in, knows how impossible it can be to make decisions, manage supposedly simple tasks. Let alone agree to a list of publicity demands. Painful & wrong.

I do not think it is right to make publicity requirements mandatory in order for authors to receive prize money, full stop. The prize is for the writing, not for their PR skills - or should be.

Reading Helen DeWitt's blog on this is upsetting as her mental state was clearly so fragile.

We lose again: Windham-Campbell Prize manqué Was going to post this on Substack, but they don't let you indent blocks of text.     Today’s insanely long installmen...

Helen DeWitt on turning down a $175k Windham-Campbell Prize because she wasn't able to handle the prize's mandatory publicity requirements. Imo a moving, deeply relatable, and darkly funny story about money, obligation, mental health, & executive dysfunction
paperpools.blogspot.com/2026/04/we-l...

Finland is Incredibly Bad at Treating Transgender Young People — Assigned A new study out of Finland casts doubt on the efficacy of the country’s lengthy assessments, harsh, invasive questioning, and delayed medical treatments.

A study from Finland has been used to cast doubt on gender affirming care for youth.

But Finland never offered gender affirming care.

Perhaps invasive, adversarial, fruitless years of assessment harm trans youth? New opinion by @evanurquhart.bsky.social:

www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-new...

Text of "Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars)" by Muriel Rukeyser. Text is online at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47657/poem-i-lived-in-the-first-century-of-world-wars

Muriel Rukeyser, always but especially today. Full text at www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47657/...

Urgent Aid For Sahar’s Family Hi world , it’s Sahar

OK comrades, I am doing a last fundraising push to support Sahar in paying for surgery for her son Odai who was injured a couple of years ago in Gaza. They need $4000 for this surgery. Our giving circle will commit $500 towards this goal. chuffed.org/project/1656... - can you help?

By no means the end of the astonishing inequity in English land ownership, but a big old step change in transparency (and let’s hope, accountability) and the toppling of a significant obstacle to nature protection and restoration. Simply incredible work by @guyshrubsole.bsky.social

Q: What is Sinners about? A: America’s inability to discuss its complex racial history without bringing the Irish into things.

What To Know About ‘Sinners’ https://theonion.com/what-to-know-about-sinners/

ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.

They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say Military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday, two U.S. officials told Reu...

Reuters Exclusive

"U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school."

"The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of U.S. conflicts in the ​Middle East."

UK to further curtail rights of asylum seekers Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will tighten rules on access to accommodation and financial support

Government to further curtail rights of asylum seekers

The legal changes to be announced today will revoke the UK’s statutory legal duty under EU law to provide asylum seekers with support and accommodation

www.ft.com/content/cac2...

Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter | Substack Politics, history, travel, pop culture. Click to read Sarah Kendzior’s Newsletter, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

@sarahkendzior.bsky.social is your go-to source for finding out how long everything we are seeing now has been “Hiding In Pain Sight.” out in “Flyover County,” because she knew what “They Knew.”

open.substack.com/pub/sarahken...

Scholar, seductress, alchemist: who was the real Cleopatra? The Egyptian queen has fascinated me from childhood, but following the archives led only to ancient gossip and Roman propaganda. Fiction was the way to liberate her from misogynist myth

Scholar, seductress, alchemist: who was the real Cleopatra? Excellent piece from Saara El-Arifi, who’ll be speaking at #HistFest2026 on 18 April. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/f...

LOVED Red Dwarf. Loved it. Series, books and all. Giving a double Rimmer Salute to the legend Rob Grant ❤️

The timing of the initial strikes is unusual.

Often you see these types of operations launched in the pre-dawn hours at the target site partly to limit civilian casualties.

This operation began at the beginning of a work and school day, with millions of adult civilians and children in harms way.

Goodness, I'm so sorry Rebecca.

There was a full moon

I hope someone draws this wonderful story about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia and the power of the arts to help us see things differently, to the attention of our Education Secretary. Do read it, it will lift your spirits.

We saw a mole on Glastonbury Tor, about 10pm last August

-small town romance
-second chance (love after loss)
-enemies (ish) to lovers
-looking after a teenager when there's no phone signal!
-family loyalty is complicated

Belonging - a #romance #novella #britishromance

www.books2read.com/u/bzPAZq

It shows that the criticial Goodreads review had gone largely unnoticed, that many couldn't stomach the book privately, but didn't feel able to speak up (how right they were), until Clanchy poured petrol on the review, set it alight for everyone to see, and then blamed everyone else for the fire.

Reminder this all started off when someone quoted her book on Goodreads and she threatened to sue them. For quoting words that she wrote. In her book. That she wrote.