Kat Bairwell
@katbairwell.bsky.social
Dog mad, animal lover, ex techie, neurodivergent, disabled, middle-aged, pain in the arse
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
At least 150 MPs, Peers, civil society organisations and activists, trade union leaders, cultural figures, healthworkers and many more have signed a statement condemning police barring 18 January march from the BBC.
Full list here 🔽 stopwar.org.uk/article/stat...
#WeWillMarch
Full list here 🔽 stopwar.org.uk/article/stat...
#WeWillMarch
Statement on police barring 18 January march at the BBC
The right to free speech is precious. We call on the police to drop their objections and allow the protest to go...
stopwar.org.uk
January 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
At least 150 MPs, Peers, civil society organisations and activists, trade union leaders, cultural figures, healthworkers and many more have signed a statement condemning police barring 18 January march from the BBC.
Full list here 🔽 stopwar.org.uk/article/stat...
#WeWillMarch
Full list here 🔽 stopwar.org.uk/article/stat...
#WeWillMarch
So who's going to be knocking out an Instagram rival for those sickened by Meta's latest assault on basic human decency?
January 11, 2025 at 5:43 AM
So who's going to be knocking out an Instagram rival for those sickened by Meta's latest assault on basic human decency?
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Pondering the mess of the Hugo Awards, I find myself trying to explain where the Administrators went wrong, in a way that they might hear and understand.
So: If you find yourself keeping things secret because if people find out what you're doing they'll be upset, perhaps you shouldn't be doing it.
So: If you find yourself keeping things secret because if people find out what you're doing they'll be upset, perhaps you shouldn't be doing it.
February 17, 2024 at 2:34 PM
Pondering the mess of the Hugo Awards, I find myself trying to explain where the Administrators went wrong, in a way that they might hear and understand.
So: If you find yourself keeping things secret because if people find out what you're doing they'll be upset, perhaps you shouldn't be doing it.
So: If you find yourself keeping things secret because if people find out what you're doing they'll be upset, perhaps you shouldn't be doing it.
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
It's also a very blatant failure to recognize art as fundamentally social. Like, all these things—our poems, our books, our songs, our art—are people talking to other people. Even the most introspective work (especially!) is about human conjunction through the act of artistic encounter.
truly i cannot imagine a greater hell than access to cinema being limited to telling a computer to generate a movie to my specifications in solitude and then never discussing or sharing it with anyone else.
these joyless AI freaks do nothing but salivate about a future defined by the death of art.
these joyless AI freaks do nothing but salivate about a future defined by the death of art.
I see this type of take in response to these dogshit video clips constantly and I can't understand why anyone would want this. Its one of the grimmest things I can imagine. Like those little lab rats pushing the nut button over and over until they died.
February 17, 2024 at 4:33 AM
It's also a very blatant failure to recognize art as fundamentally social. Like, all these things—our poems, our books, our songs, our art—are people talking to other people. Even the most introspective work (especially!) is about human conjunction through the act of artistic encounter.
Congratulations to Greece for legalising same-sex marriage, and huge thanks to those who fought tooth-and-nail to get it done!
February 16, 2024 at 11:08 AM
Congratulations to Greece for legalising same-sex marriage, and huge thanks to those who fought tooth-and-nail to get it done!
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
As Google Image becomes almost completely enshittified (now the preview images are deliberately blurry, when they never were before), I have an important question:
What is the consensus choice for a non-shitty Image Search Engine? Anybody?
What is the consensus choice for a non-shitty Image Search Engine? Anybody?
February 15, 2024 at 1:23 PM
As Google Image becomes almost completely enshittified (now the preview images are deliberately blurry, when they never were before), I have an important question:
What is the consensus choice for a non-shitty Image Search Engine? Anybody?
What is the consensus choice for a non-shitty Image Search Engine? Anybody?
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
There are common threads amongst the "gender critical" academics who've written books:
1. the books are always aimed at the general market (so they're not peer-reviewed)
2. none of them are even close to being experts in a related field
3. none of them have done proper research
1. the books are always aimed at the general market (so they're not peer-reviewed)
2. none of them are even close to being experts in a related field
3. none of them have done proper research
February 14, 2024 at 1:52 PM
There are common threads amongst the "gender critical" academics who've written books:
1. the books are always aimed at the general market (so they're not peer-reviewed)
2. none of them are even close to being experts in a related field
3. none of them have done proper research
1. the books are always aimed at the general market (so they're not peer-reviewed)
2. none of them are even close to being experts in a related field
3. none of them have done proper research
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
I cannot even begin to properly convey just how much I fucking hate this kind of dishonesty and the media environment that allows it to fly under the radar. If you’re cis and you write about trans people from a hostile POV you can just *say literally anything* and get rewarded for it.
Helen Joyce has been whining about her book being removed from an LGBT History Month display (how tf it got added in the first place I have no idea).
Here’s a reminder of the quality of Joyce’s historical research. (Left imagine is from her book and the right image is from a peer-reviewed journal).
Here’s a reminder of the quality of Joyce’s historical research. (Left imagine is from her book and the right image is from a peer-reviewed journal).
![On Behalf of Hermaphrodites and Mongrels: Refocusing the Reception of Magnus Hirschfeld's Critical Thought on Sexuality and Race
J. Edgar Bauer, PhD
on hermaphroditism to the sexologist's Lehre. Already in his very first sexological treatise (Ramien, 1896), Hirschfeld echoed Darwin's stance on the intrinsically bisexual nature of humans and their mammifer ascendants.
Significantly, Darwin remarked around 1833 that "[elvery man & woman is hermaphrodite [...I" (Darwin, 1987, p. 384), and later corroborated his initial insights, as he detailed in 1871 that, in their being, human individuals replicate their lineage from "some extremely remote progenitor of the
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J. E. BAUER
whole vertebrate kingdom [that] appears to have been hermaphrodite or androgynous" (Darwin, 1981, Part I, p. 207).* As an advocate of these premises, Hirschfeld depicted Darwin as one of the first natural scientists in the nineteenth century to rediscover the "ur-idea of human double sexuality" (Hirschfeld, 1926, p.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:rcgrkfgh55jxcbsejzkzexv7/bafkreicuri7ba7su3z7ucsjff7njmmknkhlt2mlz6m6s3dqqc2tfcal75q@jpeg)
February 14, 2024 at 12:55 PM
I cannot even begin to properly convey just how much I fucking hate this kind of dishonesty and the media environment that allows it to fly under the radar. If you’re cis and you write about trans people from a hostile POV you can just *say literally anything* and get rewarded for it.
Happy You Are Enough, Just As You Are Day
February 14, 2024 at 12:14 PM
Happy You Are Enough, Just As You Are Day
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Let this one resonate: No meaningful checks on abuse of the Insurrection Act, which Trump is promising to invoke; no reliable safeguards whatsoever.
Read the whole piece by Ron Brownstein: It outlines the stakes in the 2024 election with sickening clarity.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Read the whole piece by Ron Brownstein: It outlines the stakes in the 2024 election with sickening clarity.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
February 13, 2024 at 3:15 AM
Let this one resonate: No meaningful checks on abuse of the Insurrection Act, which Trump is promising to invoke; no reliable safeguards whatsoever.
Read the whole piece by Ron Brownstein: It outlines the stakes in the 2024 election with sickening clarity.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Read the whole piece by Ron Brownstein: It outlines the stakes in the 2024 election with sickening clarity.
www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
New: When someone dies, Google is filled with clickbait articles about their death — even non-celebrity, private individuals. Even children.
I wrote about the cruelty of SEO obituary spam, and how sites are now using generative AI to produce even more content.
www.theverge.com/24065145/ai-...
I wrote about the cruelty of SEO obituary spam, and how sites are now using generative AI to produce even more content.
www.theverge.com/24065145/ai-...
When a funeral is clickbait
AI-generated obituaries are beginning to litter search results, turning the deaths of private individuals into clunky, repetitive content.
www.theverge.com
February 12, 2024 at 3:56 PM
New: When someone dies, Google is filled with clickbait articles about their death — even non-celebrity, private individuals. Even children.
I wrote about the cruelty of SEO obituary spam, and how sites are now using generative AI to produce even more content.
www.theverge.com/24065145/ai-...
I wrote about the cruelty of SEO obituary spam, and how sites are now using generative AI to produce even more content.
www.theverge.com/24065145/ai-...
The manufactured anti-trans panic has consequences. A teenage girl in Utah has to go into hiding, with police protection, because TERFs have made it ok to threaten the lives of children
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76-...
Let's talk about Utah and good guys....
Support via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/beautfcThe Roads with Beau: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_x7nc3Vi4BPgmNnMsz774ACheck out the store. Sticker...
www.youtube.com
February 12, 2024 at 10:21 AM
The manufactured anti-trans panic has consequences. A teenage girl in Utah has to go into hiding, with police protection, because TERFs have made it ok to threaten the lives of children
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76-...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w76-...
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
The funny thing is, the majority of Ukrainians were totally content to be neutral neighbors of Russia, for years.
Then Putin bombed them, stole land, declared them to be non-people in a non-country.
Obviously the majority now wants to be in NATO. Why is this hard for people 🤦🏼♀️
Then Putin bombed them, stole land, declared them to be non-people in a non-country.
Obviously the majority now wants to be in NATO. Why is this hard for people 🤦🏼♀️
February 10, 2024 at 2:12 PM
The funny thing is, the majority of Ukrainians were totally content to be neutral neighbors of Russia, for years.
Then Putin bombed them, stole land, declared them to be non-people in a non-country.
Obviously the majority now wants to be in NATO. Why is this hard for people 🤦🏼♀️
Then Putin bombed them, stole land, declared them to be non-people in a non-country.
Obviously the majority now wants to be in NATO. Why is this hard for people 🤦🏼♀️
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
A trans writer’s perspective on Sunak’s pathetic, repugnant transphobia 👇🏻
I wasn’t surprised by Rishi Sunak’s cheap trans jibe – but I was confounded by the outcry | Freddy McConnell
Had Esther Ghey not been in the room, it would have been business as usual, says the freelance journalist Freddy McConnell
www.theguardian.com
February 10, 2024 at 8:46 AM
A trans writer’s perspective on Sunak’s pathetic, repugnant transphobia 👇🏻
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
2/
“Furthermore, the medical evaluation would force some disabled people to work despite their conditions not fully allowing them to.”
#ScrapTheGreenPaper
“Furthermore, the medical evaluation would force some disabled people to work despite their conditions not fully allowing them to.”
#ScrapTheGreenPaper
February 10, 2024 at 1:28 AM
2/
“Furthermore, the medical evaluation would force some disabled people to work despite their conditions not fully allowing them to.”
#ScrapTheGreenPaper
“Furthermore, the medical evaluation would force some disabled people to work despite their conditions not fully allowing them to.”
#ScrapTheGreenPaper
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Welfare Officer Jill Nelis hosts UCDSU Disability Town Hall Deputy Editor Ilaria Riccio discusses the discontent surrounding the proposed Green Paper on disability rights - and what students can do to help their #disabled peers.
universityobserver.ie/welfare-offi...
#disability
1/
universityobserver.ie/welfare-offi...
#disability
1/
Welfare Officer Jill Nelis hosts UCDSU Disbality Town Hall | University ObserverUniversity Observer
universityobserver.ie
February 10, 2024 at 1:19 AM
Welfare Officer Jill Nelis hosts UCDSU Disability Town Hall Deputy Editor Ilaria Riccio discusses the discontent surrounding the proposed Green Paper on disability rights - and what students can do to help their #disabled peers.
universityobserver.ie/welfare-offi...
#disability
1/
universityobserver.ie/welfare-offi...
#disability
1/
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Via Mastodon, some very good news about (criminally underfunded) endometriosis research.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Surge in endometriosis research after decades of underfunding could herald new era for women’s health - Nature Medicine
Advances in organoids and the role of the microbiome and diet are leading to new diagnostics and treatments for endometriosis, motivating a precision health approach to this long-neglected disease.
www.nature.com
February 9, 2024 at 5:05 PM
Via Mastodon, some very good news about (criminally underfunded) endometriosis research.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Bigoted man has all but one of his claims against his former employer thrown out by the court, claims victory, and that's the story the media runs with.
Point of comparison: what if a *racist* had won a case like this?
TERFs can fuck off. They contribute nothing but division and hatred.
Point of comparison: what if a *racist* had won a case like this?
TERFs can fuck off. They contribute nothing but division and hatred.
Shahrar Ali wins 'gender critical' court battle against Green Party
Court finds the party discriminated against Shahrar Ali but had the right to dismiss spokespeople.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 9, 2024 at 5:40 PM
Bigoted man has all but one of his claims against his former employer thrown out by the court, claims victory, and that's the story the media runs with.
Point of comparison: what if a *racist* had won a case like this?
TERFs can fuck off. They contribute nothing but division and hatred.
Point of comparison: what if a *racist* had won a case like this?
TERFs can fuck off. They contribute nothing but division and hatred.
Deeply disgusted to find that Windows 11 now has an integrated "AI" for generating "content" and "images", that cannot be removed. Having something, to which I am ethically opposed, forced upon an already bloated OS is the kind of thing that drives people away from Windows. Shame on you Microsoft.
February 9, 2024 at 2:23 PM
Deeply disgusted to find that Windows 11 now has an integrated "AI" for generating "content" and "images", that cannot be removed. Having something, to which I am ethically opposed, forced upon an already bloated OS is the kind of thing that drives people away from Windows. Shame on you Microsoft.
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
Don’t use Spoutible
This wasn't a one-time human error. The root cause of this incident is a dev process that relies on underpaid one-off gig workers and checks in the resulting code without performing a security audit or code review to catch even the most egregious mistakes.
February 9, 2024 at 12:51 PM
Don’t use Spoutible
Reposted by Kat Bairwell
I'm part of an auction raising money for critically injured children in Gaza. If you can afford bid (on mine or anything) please, please do. (I'm donating various signed books, happy to personalised/doodle and all the rest). Boosts really appreciated xxx www.32auctions.com/organization...
February 8, 2024 at 2:29 PM
I'm part of an auction raising money for critically injured children in Gaza. If you can afford bid (on mine or anything) please, please do. (I'm donating various signed books, happy to personalised/doodle and all the rest). Boosts really appreciated xxx www.32auctions.com/organization...