elysdir

elysdir, 7 days ago to random

“New laws help people in US states with bans get abortion pills: ‘Most people don’t know it’s available’”

“Over the last five months of 2023, medical providers shipped abortion pills to over 40,000 people living in states that forbid abortions, via new ‘shield laws’ that protect providers who mail pills to people living under abortion restrictions.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/14/abortion-bans-shield-laws-telehealth-pills

elysdir, 9 days ago to random

“In the months following return-to-office mandates, an increased number of senior employees departed Apple, Microsoft and SpaceX, often to work for competitors.”

Unlocked WaPo article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/05/12/rto-microsoft-apple-spacex/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzE1NDg2NDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzE2ODY4Nzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MTU0ODY0MDAsImp0aSI6IjEzYzUzYzYyLWIzNWEtNGZjZS05ODFhLWU0NTBhOWU2ZTI3MiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDI0LzA1LzEyL3J0by1taWNyb3NvZnQtYXBwbGUtc3BhY2V4LyJ9.UIvzIv58TQTb6eSwqy47rds7JRdmGCQcZZdjVweZHC8

elysdir, 10 days ago to random

Researchers have created silk fabric that can reduce sound volume using noise-canceling or sound reflection.

https://news.mit.edu/2024/sound-suppressing-silk-can-create-quiet-spaces-0507

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202313328

elysdir, 17 days ago to random

“While Russian attempts to create a viable national alternative to Wikipedia have generally failed to gain traction, the closest thing to a success story is Ruwiki, a censored online encyclopedia that proudly complies with Russian law and is regularly cleansed of references to so-called ‘foreign agents’, criticism of the government, and reports of torture in prisons.”

(Article from Apr. 11.)

https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/04/11/party-line-editing-en

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

Liz Henry writes:

“Are you working as part of a U.S. nonprofit, on disability, justice, and tech? Read this to find out how to apply for DIFxTech grants! The deadline to apply is May 29th.”

https://bookmaniac.org/2024/04/20/funding-for-disability-justice-tech/

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

“students whose last names start with W, X,Y and Z received grades that were approximately 0.6 points lower than their peers whose names begin with A, B and C.”

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/04/18/study-shows-grading-alphabetical-ordered-hurts-fairness

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

“Gaze not into the abyss, lest you become recognized as an abyss domain expert, and they expect you keep gazing into the damn thing.”

—Nick Mathewson

https://twitter.com/nickm_tor/status/860234274842324993

#CommonplaceBook

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

Interview with LaShawn Wanak about GigaNotoSaurus.

https://madison365.com/sci-fi-zine-giganotosaurus-edited-by-madison-writer-lashawn-wanak-nominated-for-a-hugo-award/

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

Pintopia: “a celebration of creativity and collaboration from a diverse group of artists collectively running enamel pin crowdfunding projects from March 28th - April 18th.”

https://www.backerkit.com/c/collections/pintopia-2024

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

In the US: enter your zip code to find out what time the eclipse will be for you, and a brief animation showing the general idea of what it will look like.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/03/19/what-time-is-solar-eclipse-interactive-map/72747827007/

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

“If Donald Trump returns to the White House, close allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on ‘anti-white racism’ rather than discrimination against people of color.”

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/01/trump-reverse-racism-civil-rights

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

“Some Queer Short SFF - February 2024” (A list by Charles Payseur.)

“Welcome to another February edition of Some Queer Short SFF. It’s not a huge month for queer releases that I found, but even for a slowish month, nearly twenty stories is still definitely something.”

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-queer-short-101322766

elysdir, 1 month ago to random

“The Transportation Department proposes new rules for how airlines handle wheelchairs”

“It would make mishandling of wheelchairs an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act — making it easier to hold airlines accountable when they damage or delay the return of a wheelchair”

“The public has 60 days to comment.” (Which you can do here: https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/DOT-OST-2022-0144-0225)

(Article from Feb. 29.)

https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234708784/airlines-wheelchairs-damaged-disabilities-transportation-department

More info here:

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/secretary-buttigieg-announces-proposed-rule-ensure-passengers-who-use-wheelchairs-can

elysdir, 2 months ago to random

“Machine learning predicts who will end up on the street, and then social workers step in and offer to help. It’s an experiment still in progress, but so far nearly 90% of participants kept their housing.”

As usual, I recommend reading the article before commenting.

(Article from March 6.)

https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2024/03/california-homeless-los-angeles-ai/

elysdir, 2 months ago to random

“Apple Officially Warns Users to Stop Putting Wet iPhones in Rice”

https://gizmodo.com/apple-warning-against-wet-iphone-rice-bath-heat-1851269963

elysdir, 3 months ago to random

I hear that Gmail has recently started objecting to more mail from non-Gmail senders than usual.

So if you use Gmail, it might be a good idea to keep a closer eye than usual on your spam folder. (And mark non-spam as non-spam.)

And if you don’t use Gmail, and you’re waiting an unusually long time for a response to something that you sent to a Gmail user, it might be worth contacting them via other channels to make sure the mail reached them.

elysdir, 3 months ago to random

The Victorian Queer Archive, “a digital archive that contains Victorian texts on LGBTQ themes.”

https://victorianqueerarchive.omeka.net/about

For example, here’s a poem, “The World Well Lost XVIII,” by Marc-André Raffalovich, 1886.

https://victorianqueerarchive.omeka.net/items/show/60

(“As Robert Browning observed, Raffalovich's poems often erase the sex of the object of desire, thereby encouraging same-sex readings” —from http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/raffalovich_ma_A.pdf)

(See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-André_Raffalovich)

elysdir, 3 months ago to random

Fascinating article: “New Theory Suggests [some] Chatbots Can Understand Text.”

The core of the claim:

“The authors argue that as these models get bigger and are trained on more data, they improve on individual language-related abilities and also develop new ones by combining skills in a manner that hints at understanding—combinations that were unlikely to exist in the training data.”

https://www.quantamagazine.org/new-theory-suggests-chatbots-can-understand-text-20240122/

elysdir, 3 months ago to random

The other day, an organization that I’m associated with received email that claimed to be from a domain registrar in China. It asked about an attempt to register a domain name similar to ours.

I couldn’t tell whether it was legit or not, so I did a web search. Turns out that it’s a scam, and it’s been around for a while. Here’s an article from 2021 about it.

https://www.dqindia.com/beware-china-domain-name-registration-scam-ignore-mails-cn-mentioning-domain-conflict/

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

“Secret Recording Shows NRA Treasurer Plotting to Conceal Extravagant Expenses Involving Wayne LaPierre”

(Article from Jan. 11.)

https://www.propublica.org/article/nra-wayne-lapierre-recording-private-jet-limousine-expenses

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

“Midwife who gave 1,500 kids homeopathic pellets instead of vaccines put ‘lives in jeopardy,’ New York health officials say”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeanette-breen-midwife-gave-1500-kids-homeopathic-pellets-not-vaccines-new-york/

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

In early 2000, Clarence Thomas complained about his salary to a Republican member of Congress, and hinted that certain justices (probably himself and Scalia) would resign soon if they didn’t get better pay. Which led to “a flurry of activity across the judiciary and Capitol Hill,” and “serious concerns […] that Thomas or other justices would leave.”

(Article from Dec. 18.)

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-money-complaints-sparked-resignation-fears-scotus

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

A historical person I hadn’t previously heard of:

“Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973) was a secular canoness who wrote drama and Christian poetry […]. She was born in Bad Gandersheim to Saxon nobles and entered Gandersheim Abbey as a canoness. She is considered the first female writer from the Germanosphere, the first female historian, the first person since the Fall of the Roman Empire to write dramas in the Latin West, and the first German female poet.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrotsvitha

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

“Small Beer Press closed to submissions in March 2023, and it looks likely that they won’t open for more submissions, at least in the near future,” because Gavin has had so little energy due to Long COVID. :(

(Article from Dec. 20.)

https://www.tor.com/2023/12/20/small-beer-press-is-halting-new-publications/

elysdir, 4 months ago to random

Happy 55th anniversary of the Earthrise photo!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise