Notices by Flick 🇬🇧 (flick@spinster.xyz)

@Wyliesau Part three:

@thatguyoverthere A slur on whom, exactly?

Is “spooksexual” the latest thing? Oh, no, that wouldn’t work. “Spysexual”?

"If someone says, 'Did you get spooked?' and there are no black people there, then, OK, you mean 'Did you get scared or frightened?' That's fine, I get it."

But once you insert black people into the situation, Blake says, it's important to be more tactful. "We know that the word 'niggardly' doesn't mean a black person, but let's be sensitive. Are you going to use the word niggardly in front of a group of young students in a classroom? No."

Oh, fuck off. What tosh.

Kestrel.

@djsumdog @jeff @marine @mitchconner @PNS To be serious for a moment, injecting excess testosterone does seem to have a very bad effect on women. Even those on low doses report reduced impulse control, violent tendencies, etc.

(Whether it is objectively more likely to cause antisocial behaviour in women than naturally occurring testosterone is in men is an interesting question. Does it affect women more, or are men better adapted / socialised / trained to deal with the side effects having gone through gradually increasing amounts during puberty, etc.)

I like pizza […] but it bothers me to see these in non-US places.

Ummm… I hate to break this to you…

@amerika @Autumn Oh, no: I was saying environmental made you rank as Zoomer!

@amerika @Autumn Ah, we have the culture lag here; our boomers were just “chop the trees down”, not hippies. It was this one especially that made me think they’d pegged you as zoomer, because half earth won’t be on their radar:

@Autumn @amerika Oh god yes, I got that heavily in school. Ozone layer, too. (Although they seem to be trying to hype that back up).

Then again, I also got “we’re about to have another ice age and all starve” at school, too.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my Pilates instructor’s husband comes to our class even though he’s not remotely up to standard.

If it weren’t for that, and the lack of spatial awareness, I wouldn’t mind, but he also has a habit of turning up about fifteen minutes late, presumably because he was held up at work, which is just rude.

Well, tonight when he arrived a distinct whiff of Parmesan cheesiness came with him. It got worse when he decided to take his socks off.

Bleh.

(I also observe that, from brief observations and the amount of time she spends correcting him*, he has actually been getting worse in the time since I’ve been going there. Coff. Sorry love, I’m afraid that is a waste of time trying to out-do the woman twice your age who’s better than you will ever be on account of basic biology and I’ve been doing it since you were in nappies.)

*To be fair, she always goes to help him last after watching and speaking to the rest of the class.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-is-being-too-slow-to-ban-smartphones/

The tide is also turning globally. Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill this week to ban under-14s in the state from having social media accounts and make platforms erase any already created. In Utah, under-18s already cannot use social media between 10.30pm and 6.30am. France recently introduced a new law requiring social media platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for those under 15, while the EU Digital Services Act has banned targeted advertising at children. In China, TikTok users under 14 can only use the app for 40 minutes a day.

As usual, the UK lags behind, weighed down by the bloated, bureaucratic mess that was the Online Safety Bill. Michelle Donelan, the technology secretary, has said that the government is looking at banning children under 16 from buying mobile phones as part of a new consultation. However, given that any law would only ban the sales of mobile phones directly to children, and not stop parents from buying phones for their children, this seems as useful as a glass hammer.

https://archive.ph/ANZrW

I do think kids should be off smart phones, but I don’t see how it can realistically be enforced. I assume the French ban uses the same tech they brought in to verify age on porn and gambling sites. Does anyone know how the Florida and Utah legislation works?

@thatguyoverthere It’s similar to A1.

@thatguyoverthere Sauce.

I think we can add “horizontal hail” to the list of Weather With Which Dog Is Not Amused.

I don’t often read the Competition, but this one caught my eye.

“A crime story in sonnet form.”

Good lord: Gen Z in “doing something rebellious” shock!

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/generation-z-rise-use-smoking-pipes-cigars-b1143325.html

Cigars and pipes are making a comeback among Generation Z, anti-smoking campaigners have warned.

New research suggests young people are increasingly opting to smoke tobacco in cigars and pipes, choosing them over traditional cigarettes.

Experts say they have seen a five-fold increase in non-cigarette tobacco being consumed over the last decade

@Gelatinousrube @amerika

Well, I was wrong when I said it would all be gone by morning.

And what a difference 50m elevation makes.

@Kang_Kong3 It’s been a horribly wet winter. Bloody volcanoes.

I think I’ll pass, thanks.

@thatguyoverthere I thought it might be, wasn’t sure. I’ve had a few people over your way say it’s captcha hell, never seen any sign of it here.