Russ Garrett
@russ.garrett.co.uk
Energy data nerd at infrageomatics.com & @openinframap.org, festival operations nerd at emfcamp.org, board member at limehouselabs.org. (he/they) I'm mostly active on Mastodon: https://chaos.social/@russss https://russ.garrett.co.uk
isabel fall was right, btw: “And the moment [queer activists’] work reached a usable stage—the moment society was ready to accept plastic gender, and scientists were ready to manipulate it—the military found a new resource…the military can make gender tactical.”
Judge orders Hegseth to explain US military’s new testosterone policy
Court questions plan to offer male hormone treatment to cisgender troops while denying it to trans service members
theguardian.com
Today, the final contact of a person exposed to #hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius completed their quarantine period, tested negative and returned home. No further cases have been reported since the 25th of May. Therefore, @who.int considers the hantavirus outbreak over.
It's disgusting that an entirely volunteer trans org has been getting abusive emails for a difficult but necessary safety decision. If you have given them grief over this you should be utterly ashamed. Wasting our community's resources on soothing your tantrum – from an org actually doing the work.
Trans+ Solidarity Alliance@transsolidarity.bsky.social · last mo.We’ve had quite a few abusive and angry emails about this decision. Just to explain it a bit further, this decision was a delicate balance. We knew many people would want to go whatever we said - and would struggle to get refunds on booked travel - when the weather warning was still Amber. …
Like, I genuinely feel like I’m going mad. Brianna Ghey wasn’t killed by social media. She was saved by social media, where she was able to find community with other young trans people. She was able to make online friends with people like herself. It was those offline who murdered her.
A citizen investor campaign by @musicvenuetrust.bsky.social to buy the building that houses Sheffield-based queer and community arts venue Gut Level has been successful, securing their presence in the city for the long term. ✍️ @sammgreg.bsky.social #OwnOurVenues #Sheffield #GutLevel
Sheffield's Gut Level secure long-term ownership of their own venue following successful crowdfunder
The building that houses the queer DIY arts space is now part of a “National Trust for music venues”.
nowthenmagazine.com
While Tony Blair is trashing UK govt energy policy, NESTA analysis finds "early signs [it] may be working" 2022: Gas prices went up 100%, electricity 83% (roughly 1:1) 2026: Gas +28%, elec 6% (5:1 = "electricity beginning to decouple from gas") www.nesta.org.uk/blo...
The Independent are already asking cisgender wheelchair users to explain why trans people should have no access to toilet facilities rather than asking anyone who is trans and disabled about how it affects them
New blog post: NHS Goes To War Against Open Source https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/05/nhs-goes-to-war-against-open-source/ The NHS is preparing to close nearly all of its Open Source repositories. Throughout my time working for the UK Government - in GDS, NHSX, i.AI, and others - I championed …
NHS Goes To War Against Open Source
The NHS is preparing to close nearly all of its Open Source repositories. Throughout my time working for the UK Government - in GDS, NHSX, i.AI, and others - I championed Open Source. I spoke to dozens of departments about it, wrote guidance still in use today, and briefed Ministers on why it was so important. That's why I'm beyond disappointed at recent moves from NHS England to backtrack on…
shkspr.mobi
not that we have a monopoly - my point is that no-one does - but it’s baffling to hear this as a trans person, and insulting to hear it from the guy who has made all of us more scared to do any of these things
📮 Received any election leaflets in the post recently? 📸 Before recycling, please consider snapping a photo and uploading it to electionleaflets.org. ℹ️ Over 1,000 leaflets have been added to the database this year alone!
Would you like to have to present your ID every time you want to go to the gym, or the swimming pool, or try on clothes at M&S? That's what Sex Matters are suggesting for *everyone*, in our new gender-policed world.
Jess O'Thomson@jessothomson.co.uk · 3mo agoSex Matters are demanding biological sex on Digital ID. Below are suggestions for when one should have to use their ID to "verify" their sex. For the avoidance of doubt – this is a call for the effective repeal of the Gender Recognition Act, in breach of our human rights obligations & EU Law.
The new £9,000 BUS grant for oil and LPG homes looks regressive, and the data says it is. 54% of oil-heated property sales sit in the top 30% of UK house prices. Only 9% sit in the bottom 30%. Gas heats Britain. Oil heats the top of Britain.
@metabrainz.org is looking for a new executive director. There is a job description but I wanted to write something more about my friend Rob Kaye and what he built. And why who we choose as our new Executive Director will be essential to what comes next. compassmapandkey.com/2026/04/18/m...
Mayhem’s Legacy: Why MetaBrainz Matters More Than Ever, and Why We’re Looking for Someone to Lead It
It has been almost exactly two months since Robert Kaye died. Rob — known online as <mayhem>, a handle that was both a pose of defiance toward corporate interest and, on occasion, an accurate…
compassmapandkey.com
We've recently added the PeeringDB Facility ID property to @wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Property:P14320 Where this is present, there's also now a link to PeeringDB from datacenter infoboxes on Open Infrastructure Map.
did you know? the google forms share icon has a stray pixel in its corner why? because the icon spritesheet has a massive black triangle overlapping the icons what is that triangle? it's a giant out-of-bounds hat!
At Scottish Labour Conference in Feb 2025, a leadership-backed motion to adopt a transphobic policy on single-sex spaces in schools was defeated. Party members and affiliates voted it down. Today Scottish Labour's leadership put that transphobic policy into its manifesto for May's election anyway.
The North Sea Link connects GB to Norway's 85TWh+ hydro system via a 720km subsea cable. GB curtailed 10TWh wind in 2025. My modelling suggests that grows fourfold by 2035. That 'wasted wind' should be seen as a potential export to Norway.
Statutory Sick Pay is now paid from the first day of illness, which is a huge public health win which I didn't even realise was happening: www.business.gov.uk/campaign/emp...
Your Sick Pay Rights
business.gov.uk
More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕
Those self-appointed arbiters of style, the BJCP, actually say in their style guidelines now that IPA no longer stands for India Pale Ale because modern IPAs bear no resemblance to it. It’s a free-floating signifier with no signified. This should be satire, as I’m sure you meant it to be.
"We judge a society by how they treat the most vulnerable" actual words that just came out of Wes Streeting's mouth.
For me, the biggest takeaway is that many people in charge of trans healthcare view transition as harm, as a failure, as an unfavourable outcome to avoid. They fundamentally conceive of trans existence as a disease to cure, and feel themselves righteous advocating for our eradication.
Abigail Thorn@theabigailthorn.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe latest episode of Philosophy Tube is about conversion therapy, why it’s still legal in the UK, and the ways the British government is implicated in it making it NHS policy. Proud to expose this stuff ✊ youtu.be/_S5w18sjYLk?...
transphobia is comorbid with being a fucking cunt in every other aspect of your life
Tired: BrewDog has betrayed its punk roots by accepting private-equity cash Wired: BrewDog's "punk" schtick was always an expedient marketing sham Inspired: BrewDog incinerated billions of dollars of implied value and made global capital interests look stupid, finally fulfilling its punk mission
Rob was a lovely person and an absolute force of nature. I am lost for words.
MetaBrainz@metabrainz.org · 5mo agoIt is with profound sadness that the MetaBrainz Board of Directors announces the unexpected passing of our Founder and Executive Director, Rob Kaye. Robert’s vision and leadership shaped MeB and left a lasting mark on the music industry and open source movement. blog.metabrainz.org/2026/02/24/r...