Melpomene 🔒

The Strait of Hormuz is open for transit

Declaring that no quarter will be given unequivocally violates international humanitarian law. Indeed, ordering that no quarter will be given, threatening an adversary therewith or conducting hostilities on this basis is prohibited and constitutes a war crime.

Most accurate portrait of modern culture currently available

a heuristic that rarely steers me wrong is that any time you find a world that valorizes 1) youth, 2) forswearing sleep, family, friendship 3) total commitment in the face of long odds, there is somebody to whom none of those conditions apply exploiting the hell out of that situation

I mean, -ish? "I'm going to get this PhD and become a tenured professor somewhere cool!" and "I'm going to ride this to an exit and make a ton of money!" are in some ways very similarly unlikely outcomes

yep. honestly it's not too far from the self-delusion necessary to do a PhD. "Yes, I, a relatively new grad student, have an insight that nobody has ever thought of and which is important enough to the world that I should spend years pursuing it"

speaking as a former founder yeah checks out

(in a funny way, like this is not a natural habit of mind for me--anything I think of, of course somebody else already did c'mon--but you literally have to make yourself think that way or you'll drive yourself round the bend)

A thing that does happen!

this is really in the running for greatest post of all time

So if using AI actually does erode human cognition the way studies suggest, then it's a feature instead of a bug?

The world is gross enough without "take away people's ability to think so we can sell it back to them" being on the list.

I will say that like being trans and out is not without its perils but like strangers are overwhelmingly Normal

"but you'll be locked into a medical regimen for the rest of your life!"

yeah I have asthma

I have now read the sentence "U.S. officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates" four times and it's just as funny each time

The halcyon fairy book. Fascinating mix of folklorics and writing.

The Dictionary of the Khazars.

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky. My recommendation is "I started crying on the first page and cried at least once a chapter and cried at the end"

CJEU press release: Member State legislation which does not permit the amendment of the gender data of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to freedom of movement is contrary to EU law A Bulgarian national was registered at birth as being male, with a name, personal identification number and identity documents corresponding to that sex. She currently lives in Italy, where she has begun hormone therapy, and now presents herself as a woman. She instituted proceedings before the Bulgarian courts seeking a declaration that she is a female person and to have her civil status data amended on her birth certificate. Despite the medical opinions and legal assessments confirming the gender identity claimed, her request was rejected. According to national legislation, as interpreted by the plenary assembly of civil chambers of the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation, the term ‘sex’ must be understood in its biological sense, excluding any amendment of the particulars relating to sex, name and identification number. The public interest, based on the moral and/or religious values of Bulgarian society, thus prevails over the interests of transgender persons. Hearing the dispute, the Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation has doubts as to the compatibility of that legislation with EU law and has referred the matter to the Court of Justice. In its judgment, the Court holds that EU law precludes legislation of a Member State which does not permit the amendment of the gender data in the civil status registers of one of its nationals who has exercised his or her right to move and reside freely in another Member State. The Court emphasises first of all that, while the issue of identity documents falls within the competence of the Member States, they must exercise that competence in compliance with EU law...

Huge trans rights ruling from the EU's top court - if someone moves to another EU country and transitions, their home country can't refuse to amend their registration details to match their lived gender identity

Why do all these Australians hate me

no don't isolate yourself from your friends, your so sexy ahaha 😏

I'm going to become a podean

Anti Australian

Cláir 🏳️‍⚧️ @seinengirl.bsky.social Queer people in modern media written by straight people: I love my husband, and our child. We watch drag race as a family and voted for Joe Biden 13 times. Queer people in modern media written by queer people: my name is Lucifer Von Penis and I am evil. And a FAGGOT. I'm effeminate and INSANE Oct 17, 2023 at 4:33 PM

Frantically googling whether transshipment requires infrastructure

"You want to replace Churchill with animals on banknotes because you hate Britain" being met with "oh so you hate Britain's animals then?" incredible uno reverse reverse moment politically

fun fact: graham crackers and cornflakes were both invented by anti-masturbation activists as bland foods to calm the passions

and I think it's beautiful that we have taken those things and turned them into s'mores and Tony The Tiger erotic fan art

i hope he knows what his song has done for the trans man community

It's an important principle of screenwriting

I love the Macarena. Just. "Macarena had a boyfriend and he got drafted. Then he sees her with two of his friends."

Ah, 'women are faithless harpies to the brave troops' is it?

"Honestly girliepop of course. What are you supposed to do, NOT fuck? His broke ass can't even buy you a Pandora charm."

seeing that low trust stuff and feeling mixed like
it's corrosive
but also the thing is we live in a society where you are constantly exposed to invisible ghouls exploiting your trust in baroque ways
idk ban advertising and i'll see how i feel after that