Merry Hadaway
@kindjourneys.bsky.social
Queer, trans, disabled singer, fanboy, and frustrated outdoorsman. Living by the sea in a lovely Scottish town. He/him. Blocking bigots is good self-care.
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars. OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
theatlantic.com
Dear all trans women: Whatever you talk about or how you behave is how women talk and behave, because you are a woman who talks and exhibits behavior. You do not need to copy or mimic some kind of headcanon cis woman. Literally *anything* you do is definitionally something a woman does.
Most people don't know how to pronounce my name ("SOAR'lyeh" is close enough) but I've never had anyone giggle at it. Let alone a supposed professional. I know Anglophone SF culture has always been parochial, but you would think. You would bloody well think.
Lily Lachance 🏳️⚧️🚀✍️@lilylachance.com · last yr.Something very very weird happened during the Hugos award ceremony... It's been on my mind for days, and so I wrote this blog: "When People Giggle at Your Name, or the 2025 Hugo Awards Incident" grigorylukin.com/2025/08/21/w... #Worldcon
Good to see one paper taking a stand.
Laura Webster@lauraewebster.bsky.social · last yr.NEW: The National is launching a new series highlighting positive stories of refugees and asylum seekers in Scotland. The increasingly hostile political commentary and media coverage is appalling. We have a duty to correct misinformation and stand up for those without a voice
I don't know how you can say that blatantly discriminating against trans people is not discrimination, but that's the UK now. Don't think for a second it will stop with trans people. We've been telling you this for a decade.
6/ Analysis - @jamiewareham.co.uk "This is a rare positive ruling for the Trans+ community - but it only received a handful of mainstream media stories. I'm confident if the ruling had been negative, it would have been blasted across headlines as a propaganda tool against gender affirming care."
A UK judge has ruled that a private gender clinic was right to get an "outstanding" review from the UK medical regulator the Clinical Quality Commission 🏳️⚧️ It's a rare positive ruling for the Trans+ community - let's take a look at it 🧵
UK organisations with trans members/service users: this is the time to:- a) refuse to comply with transphobia b) make it clear to your trans members/service users that you are going to refuse, so they know they are safe. Don't be intimidated into appeasing fascists, please.
I think a lot of people need to realize that they’re not too much to love, that they’ve been loved by the wrong people, and that’s not your fault; it’s their fault for trying to diminish you.
Dear UK govt, You seem a bit confused about this, so I hope that I can make it clearer:- - LLMs are not people. Corporations are also not people. - trans people, Palestinians, refugees, disabled people, and indeed all other human beings *are* all people. Please act accordingly. FFS. Merry
OpenAI doesn't realise that PhD-level expertise has very little to do with the stuff you know and more to do with how you can think. I forget facts from mine all the time! The value in my PhD is knowing how to reliably generate, evaluate, and defend or dismiss information that's new to the world.
Dave Hemprich-Bennett@davehb.bsky.social · last yr.OpenAI: we’re giving you PhD-level expertise in your pocket! Everyone with PhDs: I know exactly who you’re automating and I hate him
Among so much I don't understand about "gender criticals" (such a misnomer) who still think they're protecting women: if hating on trans women was good for cis women, *Donald Trump wouldn't do it*. They need to look at which men agree with them, and *why they do so*.
Well they should stop pursuing aims that kill lots of people then, shouldn't they.
more mr. spice guy@juniorhoncho.bsky.social · last yr.just imagine... a whole town of mozarts!! hundreds of mozarts to spare even if an entire shift were to perish in the mine
If enough cis people and enough organisations refuse to comply with the UK gvt's transphobic bullshit it *will* become undoable. Protect trans women using women's spaces/trans men using men's. Be inclusive. Be kind. Put the safety of trans ppl over the comfort of a tiny minority of bigots.
Happy International Cat Day! Put your paws together please for the felines who work hard to keep the places you love running. Fliss makes sure young plants have plenty of heat for growing in the glasshouses at Stourhead in Wiltshire...
NHS announces public consultation into youth gender services – here's how you can get involved
How to get involved in NHS youth gender service consultation
The NHS has announced a public consultation into changes to its youth gender services. Here's how to get involved.
thepinknews.com
The UK for the past 80 years, accurately: Chamberlain was wrong and appeasing fascists is bad. We are an awesome country and we won't do *that* again. The UK gvt at the moment: I know we're Labour but we can have a little fascism (and a lot of appeasing Trump) as a treat.
Sending huge solidarity to trans actors and other trans performing arts industry professionals today. It's got to be *horrible* knowing that there are colleagues (actors and directors and writers and crew) still willing to work with Rowling. :(
It's such a fricking far-right playbook thing. They put the comfort of the only women they deem acceptable (cis, but let's face it also het, white, abled, femme, thin, and apparently under 5'11" too...) ahead of the *safety* of all other women. It's enraging anyone is falling for it.
Helen 🏳️⚧️✊🏻💕@mimmymum.bsky.social · last yr.It’s absolutely GROTESQUE how ‘gender critical’ transphobes have HIJACKED equality language - claiming it’s a “legitimate aim” to DISCRIMINATE against trans people, just because trans people make them feel icky! 😡🤬 #FuckTERFs
Trans rights *are* good. If you oppose them, you need to fix your heart, especially before you run for an office that controls other people's lives.
Paul F. Tompkins@pftompkins.bsky.social · last yr.“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good” This implies that pandering to bigots is “good”
Autistic humans don’t burn out from being autistic. We burn out from performing something we’re not. Smiling when it hurts. Shrinking so others feel big. Pretending we’re fine. Masking is survival. Unmasking is living with your needs met, truly.
I'm one of those no longer entitled to a booster, and I'm livid. And worried. :( If you're not at the bare minimum wearing a mask on public transport and in crowded indoor spaces at the moment... please start doing so again. Bringing the infection rate down is even more crucial now.
I'm one of those no longer entitled to the COVID booster and... yeah. Not good. :( (Also, do the gvt want to reduce the number of ppl too disabled to work or not?! Long Covid is a growing problem, and utterly horrible for those who get it...)
