The Friday Five for 14 November 2025

Nov. 13th, 2025 06:14 pm
anais_pf: (Default)
[personal profile] anais_pf posting in [community profile] thefridayfive
These questions were originally suggested by [livejournal.com profile] alysonl.

1. What's one of the nicest things a friend has ever done for you?

2. What's one of the nicest things a stranger has ever done for you?

3. What is a trait in another person that you instantly admire, and that draws you to them?

4. What is a trait in another person that instantly repels you, and prevents you from forming a close relationship with them?

5. Time to vent: tell us about something rotten someone has done to you.

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

A certain concurrence here....

Nov. 13th, 2025 07:32 pm
oursin: Photograph of James Miranda Barry, c. 1850 (James Miranda Barry)
[personal profile] oursin

Noted as of interest a day or so ago, ‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children - am a bit gloomed to think that this is Still An Issue because I look back and surely this was brought to wider attention, oh, at least twenty or years ago?

Ah. A little delving shows me that the person I remember as doing pioneering research on the subject, published around the late 90s, and also involved in intersex activism, has become A Figure of Controversy and I think we probably do not mention them.

But quite coincidentally this emerged today: who, according to work done by A Very Reputable Scientist sequencing DNA which does appear to be his, had a Disorder of Sexual Development (as intersex conditions are sometimes termed)? Did Hitler really have a ‘micropenis’? The dubious documentary analysing the dictator’s DNA.

Here is a thoughtful and nuanced piece by an actual scientist taking issue with some of the more tabloidy accounts A slightly different take on the news that Hitler’s DNA reveals some genetic anomalies. The most interesting thing to me is that history has a profound capability for irony.

That Hitler himself had a condition that was discovered and named by a Jewish man who also held some responsibility for the scientifically misguided murderous policies of the Nazis is at least a reflection that history is often imbued with a sense of complex and confusing irony.

Pickle and her human

Nov. 13th, 2025 06:28 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

D and I were walking home from an errand when we ran into Pickle, a little French bulldog, and her human (whose name of course I have no idea of). We were near one of our old dog-walking destinations, and she recognized D and I right away -- she called out "where's your dog?"

We stopped and chatted, shared the sad news about Gary, and she was really sweet about how you alway miss them and them and the company they provide. She said her mum's birthday is soon -- or has just been, recently? -- "and even though she's been gone six years I still miss her."

It was really nice to run in to her, and I'm impressed that she recognized us without the dog; I don't know that I'd recognize her without Pickle!

More evidence of causation

Nov. 13th, 2025 07:20 pm
fred_mouse: bright red 'love' heart with stethoscope (health)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

a follow up to my october 14th post, where I reported having forgotten all my morning meds. I have, in the interim, been prescribed a new medication that has to be taken half an hour before breakfast, and also worked out that if I put all but one medication on the bedside table, I can take them when I first wake. Which has the added advantage of meaning that the paracetamol has kicked in by the time I try and get out of bed, and lo! but it is easier to get out of bed.

Sadly, the one that can't be taken at that point -- because it has to be taken after eating -- is the anti-inflammatory. And today, I gave up and came home after lunch, because making it to 2pm when the next paracetamol was due was too much (I actually took said paracetamol at 1pm, which is the absolute earliest it was allowed, on the 6 hour interval, which meant it kicked in enough for the drive home to be possible). And found the anti-inflammatory still in its little bowl, waiting to be taken. Which might mean I also forgot my asthma preventer, which might also be associated with my chest being a little unhappy (also, I have some kind of reaction to being in a specific room in the library -- the last two times I've developed one of those biting coughs)

Which says that the anti-inflammatory is doing amazing things, and I'm going to keep taking it. Sadly, the new med is because it is possible that some of the other symptoms are a side effect of taking it daily, rather than the 'max 5 days in 7' I was allowed with the stronger dose (that was once daily, the lower dose is twice daily).

Names

Nov. 13th, 2025 07:24 am
fred_mouse: line drawing of sheep coloured in queer flag colours with dream bubble reading 'dreamwidth' (Default)
[personal profile] fred_mouse

Twenty years ago, a teacher friend talked about how common the Aiden variations were in the contemporary high school demographic. To the point that my memory is that they said they had Aiden, Brayden, Jayden, Haiden and Cayden in one class.

And I've realised that it was a bit like that in the my high school years, but slightly less focused, with the -elle ending. We had Michelle, Eschelle, Narelle, Jenelle in the year group. Chantelle was the same era but I don't remember any. Gabrielle is, to my perceptions, younger. There might have been an Annabelle, but I think that was uni.

oursin: Photograph of small impressionistic metal figurine seated reading a book (Reader)
[personal profile] oursin

What I read

Well, most of the time it was One Clear Call, which had (as had preceding volumes) a certain amount of resonance with contemporary events.

Read The Scribbler Annual no 1, which was a change of pace.

On the go

Dipped a bit more into Some Men in London, 1960-1967.

Started the final book in my review pile, which is pretty good though also raises, I think, some interesting points for discussion. (And as a rather tangential thought, during the heyday of lesbian murder mysteries from feminist presses, were there any set in wymmynz communes?)

Have also started a re-read of The Golden Notebook - given how long it is since I last read it, so much seems very familiar.

Up next

Still haven't got to the latest Literary Review. Otherwise, dunno.

In which we do the show right here

Nov. 12th, 2025 05:21 pm
spiralsheep: Sheep wearing an eyepatch (Default)
[personal profile] spiralsheep
- Film: I watched a documentary, The Golden Spurtle, about the international porridge making championship held annually for the last 30+ years in Carrbridge village in the Scottish Highlands, and the film is an ideal combination of quirky Scottish villagers, international porridge-cooking contestants, and Australian filmmakers. 5/5 would watch again.

- Film: on 11-11-25 at 11am I saw Alan Bennett the Musical, sorry, I mean The Choral, which is about a northern English choral society in 1916. It tackles some (still) controversial themes, mostly class related, but also manages to comfortably embrace cliches such as The Scene Where Everyone Sings and, of course, Let's Do The Show Right Here. The themes are outsourcing of labour by the English ruling classes: the hardest and most dangerous physical labour historically demanded from the white working class, the emotional and sexual labour expected from women, and interestingly the outsourcing of conscience to homosexuals and non-white people. I have to admire Bennett's enduring passion for satirising hypocrisy, and his ability to be simultaneously amusing and devastating. My only reservation is the character assassination of Edward Elgar but I took that more as social commentary about selling one's soul to The Establishment in exchange for "honours", which Bennett has earned the right to make due to turning down at least two we know of including a knighthood. 4/5 but once was enough.

Quote of the film is itself a quotation: “A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful [...]” - well-known German person Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

- Pleasing occurrences: Mr Crepehanger Radiographer who did my scan can kiss my optimist ring cos my next neurology appointment has been adjusted from only a two month gap to the more usual three. \o/

- Accountability catch-up )

Never was a story of more woe...

Nov. 12th, 2025 04:50 pm
[personal profile] cosmolinguist

I had so much work to do today, and yet an hour after I started I still hadn't managed to log in to my computer.

I had to change my password yesterday (yay security theater! thanks I hate it!). Today I could log in on my phone but not my laptop. I carefully typed my password so many times. Always the same response. I even went through the inaccessible process to change the password AGAIN so then had to remember the new new one and not mix it up with the old new one all these times I typed it... (I even tried the old old one a few times, just in case.)

I felt like I was coming unglued from reality.

I had to call IT.

I hate my workplace IT. I hate it so much I just lived with a fairly significant problem (not being able to access some documents I need), for years, after repeated attempts at getting them to fix this problem that ended with them not even listening to it or understanding it. As soon as they heard a word that meant it could be someone else's fault they switched off, and no amount of me explaining that there wasn't anything anyone else could do and it started when they made me use an authenticator app which I get is more secure than SMS but also didn't fucking have the settings I needed... I just gave up trying and do without access to those things.

So for me to call them is really dire straits. But I have a ton of work to do and it has to be done today! So I called.

The guy I got told me to do a thing that I said I couldn't when I couldn't even log in. He barely let me finish talking before he said, "Totally incorrect."

I don't know if you've ever offered a simple problem -- like "how can I do anything on the computer if I can't log in?" --only to be met with "Totally incorrect" as a reply but lemme tell you, it has a really physical effect!

I could hardly hear what he was saying after that because I was doing that wheezing, disbelieving laugh that I associate with Michael Hobbes being on a podcast where he's just been told something that a fascist has said. I was actually speechless. It actually knocked the breath right out of me.

People just...should not talk to each other like that!

I just hung up on him.

In the process of treating me like a Victorian schoolboy who was about to get beaten for making a mistake in his Latin, he'd inadvertently reminded me of something that would actually help me address the problem, so I hung up and did that.

But at 10:30 this morning I still hadn't gotten any work done because I had to log back into everything on my phone since I'd changed the password again, and process all the emotions I've been through before I'd even had a chance to make tea... It took most of the morning to do that, make breakfast and settle down to my task. I didn't manage to empty the dishwasher or give Mr. Smith his meds or get my laundry out of the dryer or anything else I might do in a day. I barely managed lunch.

But! I sent off the much-awaited long-overdue first draft to my boss and his boss, the next stage, at 16:44 today. Is it a good first draft? No! Is it done, 16 minutes before the end of the last possible work day I said it'd be done for after pushing the deadline twice? Yes!

[syndicated profile] david_allen_green_feed

Posted by David Allen Green

12th November 2025

Yesterday this blog offered a close reading of the letter Trump’s lawyers had sent to the British Broadcasting Corporation. As a follow-up, this is a letter that the BBC could send in reply.

*

Dear Sirs

We refer to your letter.

As a preliminary point, it is accepted that the edited video in the Panorama programme was an error which should not have been made by the production company or approved by us for broadcast. We apologise for that error both to our viewers generally and to your client in particular. It was a failure of commissioning, journalistic and editorial standards. The programme has been removed from our iPlayer online platform and it will not be broadcast again with the error.

But failures of commissioning, journalistic and editorial standards do not by themselves give rise to a legal claim. We have looked carefully at your client’s claim as set out in your letter, and for the reasons below that claim is denied.

Your letter provides no evidence that your client was aware of the programme when it was broadcast or for at least a year afterwards. If your client maintains this claim please disclose evidence for our pre-action inspection that your client was aware of the broadcast before the press coverage of the last two weeks. Please also inform us when you were first instructed in respect of this complaint. In your letter you are anxious that we retain relevant documents, and so we presume you also have relevant documents about your client’s awareness of the programme. If you do have such evidence, please confirm that is the case.

The programme was not broadcast in the United States generally or Florida in particular. Our programmes on iPlayer are not available in the United States. Please provide any evidence for our pre-action inspection that the programme was watched by any person in your jurisdiction. Again, given the document retention requirements you set out in your letter, you presumably have retained such documents. And again, if you do have such evidence, please confirm this is the case.

You state in your letter three times that your client has suffered “overwhelming financial and reputational harm”. This is presumably on the Beetlejuice principle that if you say something three times it somehow appears. But your letter contains no evidence of either financial or reputational harm, let alone both. And your letter certainly fails to provide evidence of any harm being “overwhelming”. Given that your client was actually re-elected to the presidency within days of this programme being shown (in the United Kingdom but not the United States) there is no obvious harm that was suffered by your client.

If you do have any evidence of the alleged harm, either “overwhelming” or at all , and if your client continues with this claim, please provide that for our pre-action inspection. Please also provide evidence that the programme was “widely disseminated throughout various digital mediums, which have reached tens of millions of people worldwide”.

Talking of “tens of millions” you provided no basis whatsoever for the figure of one billion dollars. Please confirm whether this is a billion in an English or an American sense. As the figure seems arbitrary, please provide your workings out of the quantum. As it stands, the figure has no more meaning than a demand for one trillion dollars, or for one dollar.

Both your client and the BBC believe in the value of freedom of expression. Your client benefits from the constitutional and other legal protections for free speech in the United States. The BBC also should have the benefit of the same protections. We made a mistake for which we have apologised and undertaken not to broadcast again. But this should not be a matter for the courts.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours faithfully

[ ]

***

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Reading Wednesday

Nov. 12th, 2025 07:03 am
sabotabby: (books!)
[personal profile] sabotabby
Just finished: Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. Yeah, she lands the ending. This was just too good—scathingly funny, unexpectedly sweet, and a worthy take on Dante's Inferno. It's one of those ones where I rush to Goodreads to see what stupid people thought about it and I think the complete opposite of that. I just love Alice so much, basically.

Currently reading: Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest by Nick Mamatas. Complete coincidence that I'm reading two genre takes on classic works of literature with similar titles one right after each other. Anyway, this is the cyberpunk take on The Tempest that you didn't know you needed. Caliban/Kalivas is the last free-range human, i.e., lacking in post-human augments and able to die in a post-apocalyptic world of godlike enhanced assholes. It leans very heavily into the play's anticolonialist themes and also into our current state of being ruled by lunatic billionaires who want to live forever. It's very good, obviously.

Today is my grandmother's birthday

Nov. 11th, 2025 04:30 pm
conuly: (Default)
[personal profile] conuly
She was inordinately pleased to have been born on the anniversary of the Armistice, not that it kept her country from being invaded again when she was a young woman.

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