So tell us more about sensitivity readers.

https://twitter.com/john_boyne/status/1489523165151862788

The Times explores the question:

Joanne Harris*, the author of Chocolat, took umbrage: “I think you’re confusing sensitivity with weakness . . . It takes courage for an author to admit they may not have all the answers.” Dickens had revised his depiction of the Jewish character Fagin in Oliver Twist, she argued, removing many references to the character’s religion after corresponding with a Jewish critic, Eliza Davis. “He showed the capacity to grow. Perhaps that’s what makes a great writer.”

*The Joanne Harris who declined to remove a “fuck” from her latest novel for a US publisher.

But a Jewish critic who enlightened Dickens isn’t a “sensitivity reader,” … Read the rest

A cancel-cancel:

The bestselling author Joanne Harris has turned down a US book deal after the publishers demanded she take out an “f-bomb” from the novel.

Well done that woman.

The Chocolat author, who lives near Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, tweeted on Saturday: “Today I turned down a book deal in the US because they wanted to edit out my use of ‘the f-bomb’. I refused for two reasons: one, because I don’t use words accidentally. They matter. And second, because I don’t believe my use of the word ‘fuck’ harms anyone.”

Exactly so. I do a bit of writing myself and I don’t use words accidentally. I thought we’d agreed as a society or a grown-up reading public … Read the rest

Indiana ACLU turning its back on girls and their civil liberties.

HB 1041 passed out of committee yesterday and is on its way to the full Senate.

We cannot and will not back down. #LetKidsPay #INLegishttps://t.co/AQXUq2FGIf

— ACLU of Indiana (@ACLUIndiana) February 17, 2022

Title IX protects ALL girls – including transgender girls. #LetKidsPlay

— ACLU of Indiana (@ACLUIndiana) February 17, 2022

Transgender girls aren’t girls.

https://twitter.com/ACLUIndiana/status/1494715308933849094

THE ISSUE ISN’T TRANS KIDS.

The issue is boys destroying girls’ sports.

Courts, educators, coaches and women’s rights advocates agree: trans students belong in sports. #LetKidsPlayhttps://t.co/PqDxL1h1U8

— ACLU of Indiana (@ACLUIndiana) February 18, 2022

Nobody is saying trans students don’t belong in sports. The issue is trans students who are male… Read the rest

If only this discussion could get out of the baby talk stage. Let trans girls play sports!! Yes thank you nobody is trying to stop them.

A controversial bill to ban transgender girls from playing girls sports in school has passed a key committee, signaling it’s on its way to becoming law.

…

Last week, lawmakers heard hours of testimony from individuals on both sides of the bill. There are supporters of the bill, who are concerned what impact the participation of transgender girls may have on girls’ sports. They say transgender girls may have unfair physical advantages that would make it harder to cisgender girls to secure a spot or compete on an even playing field.

Of course they … Read the rest

Originally a comment by Freemage on Imagine.

Okay, I’m gonna leap down this rabbit-hole for a moment, because I think it really gets at the critiques of Rowling and Harry Potter from the TRAs:

H. P. Lovecraft was the creator of the Cthulu “mythos”. He pretty much invented, whole-cloth, the idea of ancient gods who are so far beyond human experience that to apply mortal morals to them is absurd, and to contemplate them directly is to invite insanity. Just as Mary Shelly created the first real Sci-Fi Horror story, Lovecraft pretty much invented the whole genre of Existential Horror. His writings have inspired scores of other writers to produce work in the same genre, as well as art, … Read the rest

Another tantrum.

https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494734546339872768

“transphobic scholarship” “pain and suffering” “the damage caused” “injurious scholarship” “directly and indirectly harmed” – it sounds like something really terrible, doesn’t it.

https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494734757254545412

“harmful scholarship”

https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494735350434091008

How dare those traitors be unoffended by the content? How dare they not do everything they can to get it removed and rejected and forever silenced?

https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494735647705288706 https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494735995429953544

“personal safety” “harmful scholarship”

https://twitter.com/mewydman/status/1494736434577788928

“unwaveringly correct decision” “harmful and problematic”

Melodrama is a powerful drug.… Read the rest

Useful summary of state of play.

#462 to #1.#PennCheats #SaveWomensSports pic.twitter.com/myrNuOsUB9

— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) February 18, 2022

… Read the rest

Harriet Hall on Charles Windsor as self-proclaimed Enemy of the Enlightenment:

Edzard Ernst has a new book out: Charles, The Alternative Prince: An Unauthorized Biography. I wrote a full book review that will appear in the next issue of Skeptical Inquirer magazine, but I wanted to give my readers on Science-Based Medicine a heads-up.  Charles’ efforts to promote alternative medicine have been mentioned many times on SBM, but readers may not appreciate the depth of his folly. I know I didn’t, until I read this book. The full story has never been told until now.

Ernst uses Prince Charles’ own words to demonstrate his ignorance of science and medicine. He thinks conventional medicine is nothing but “pills and procedures”.

… Read the rest

CNN “reports”:

Lia Thomas, a transgender woman swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania, won the 500-yard freestyle race at the Ivy League women’s swimming and diving championships on Thursday night in 4 minutes and 37.32 seconds, beating her next closest competitor by 7.5 seconds.

In other words William Thomas, a man, won the 500-yard freestyle race at the Ivy League women’s swimming and diving championships on Thursday night in 4 minutes and 37.32 seconds, beating his next closest competitor, a woman, by 7.5 seconds. Which is to say, a man won a women’s race by blatantly gaming the system. This should not be allowed to happen, end of story.

Her dominance in the pool has raised questions about the 

… Read the rest

Huh. Subway ads for the New York Times attacking JK Rowling. That’s a new level.

The New York Times has come under fire for an ad that describes a woman imagining what Harry Potter would be like without its author JK Rowling.

Setting aside the morality of a major newspaper singling out a woman for hatred in its advertising, that’s just plain a stupid thing to say. Let’s imagine what The Trout Quintet would be like without Schubert. What would King Lear be like without Shakespeare? Wuthering Heights without Emily Bronte? Fallingwater without Frank Lloyd Wright?

At least it’s an easy exercise. The answer is nothing. Zero. An empty space.

And as for the morality…well. It’s beneath contempt.

The

… Read the rest

Why isn’t everyone there booing?

500 free final @IvyLeague championships: Lia Thomas, formerly of the @PennSwimDive men's team, won by over 7 seconds. You can hardly see the other women swimming at the far end of the pool by the time the race is over. For the women, "it was a race for second place." pic.twitter.com/3ItZnsGMtR

— Emily Kreps (@ekreps) February 18, 2022

… Read the rest

Julia Beck on that ratbag who got her kicked off a city commission and has now “detransitioned.”

Four years ago I was ousted from a city commission, all because I said “sex” is important. Now I hear the man who took my place, the man who then called himself a lesbian and led the charge against me, has since detransitioned. I welcome every person’s decision to detransition or desist, and at the same time abusers must be held accountable for their actions. Sure, finding yourself in life is a process, but it never requires traumatizing women, or pretending to be one.

I wouldn’t even mind the pretending to be one all that much if it were called that. I would … Read the rest

The crook and his crook kids have to testify.

Donald Trump and two of his children have been ordered by a New York judge to appear for a deposition within the next three weeks, as part of the billowing investigation over alleged fraud in the valuation of assets belonging to his family business.

The ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron to force Trump and his two eldest children – Donald Jr and Ivanka – to comply with subpoenas amounts to a sharp escalation of the legal perils that are rapidly tightening around the former president.

I know, I know, he keeps getting away with it, but you know, you can play with fire 153 times and not get burned and … Read the rest

The one with Andy Lewis and Aaron Rabinowitz.

I’ve watched only a clip so far, in which Helen asks Aaron if he thinks Lia Thomas has a right to be in the women’s changing room and Aaron says yes.

One way of looking at it is that critics of trans ideology are obsessed with the subject [and by implication kind of weird and crazy for being so obsessed].

I still think it was net good, but it really is the case that when you engage with someone on something they obsess about 24/7, they will have more talking points than you can ever possibly be ready for and will switch points till they find one you look weak on. 3/3

… Read the rest

Originally a comment by James Garnett on Triple threat.

I’m not a climate scientist, but my professional work is in control theoretic modeling of real, nonlinear systems. It’s difficult to underscore just how frightening a positive feedback runaway can be; the results are catastrophic for the system in question, even for small things. For example, induction motors form the basis of modern processing engineering, so their function and use are taught in most electrical engineering programs. One aspect of these motors is that when they are running, if one opens the field circuit while the driving circuit is still energized, the torque of the rotor becomes infinite (in theory), because the field acts as a negative feedback control mechanism. … Read the rest

More on permafrost:

Thawing Arctic permafrost laden with billions of tons of greenhouse gases [threatens not only] the region’s critical infrastructure but life across the planet, according [to] a comprehensive scientific review.

Nearly 70% of the roads, pipelines, cities and industry — mostly in Russia — built on the region’s softening ground are highly vulnerable to acute damage by mid-century, according to one of half-a-dozen studies on permafrost published this week by Nature.

Another study warns that methane and CO2 escaping from long-frozen soil could accelerate warming and overwhelm global efforts to cap the rise in Earth’s temperature at livable levels.

Exposure of highly combustible organic matter no longer locked away by ice is also fueling unprecedented wildfires, making

… Read the rest

Still pretending it’s not just Jo and his ego.

Thanks for all the lovely feedback on this thread. We remain who we always were. We immediately put our hands up when we get stuff wrong. The trick is to identify those in whose eyes we will always be wrong. And to remember that when you read their unsurprising assessment. https://t.co/R1r32Om6DG

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) February 17, 2022

Seriously, who is this “we”? Why does he keep pretending when there is no “we” in evidence? If it’s a “we” why does no one else ever speak up as part of the “we”? Why is not a single name other than Jolyon’s ever mentioned? How is he getting away with this absurd … Read the rest

But what are trans rights?

I think what the Chair of the so-called ECHR is saying here is that all cis women feel like she (plainly) does about trans women. Of course, that's nonsense – the data shows women are more supportive of trans rights than men. But it's extraordinary that it has come from her! pic.twitter.com/y6U9SVW1lD

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) February 16, 2022

What trans rights are women more supportive of?

He probably means some leading question version, as in “Do you support trans rights?”, as opposed to an actual specific spelled-out claimed right such as “the right for men to be treated as women in all settings and circumstances because that’s how they identify.” I think when people … Read the rest

I’m beginning to think Our Jolyon isn’t as widely or intensely admired as he would have us believe.

The decision itself has been peddled as involving a finding that Dido Harding's appointment was unlawful. Such a portrayal is inaccurate. The Court found that there had been breaches of the PSED in the process by which Harding was appointed, but 2/ pic.twitter.com/z6wPxSKzVq

— David Turner (@GreatStrides65) February 15, 2022

Oops. As close to an admission as @jolyonmaugham is likely to make that @GoodLawProject's spinning of today's judgment has simply ignored the result pic.twitter.com/MvjmcfFYh1

— David Turner (@GreatStrides65) February 15, 2022

Who is “our”? Jolyon & his invisible friend?… Read the rest

The editor-in-chief of Swimming World doesn’t mince words:

Must give credit to the Ivy League. It didn’t hide its position. From the early days of the Lia Thomas debate, the conference made it clear that it would wholly support one swimmer over hundreds of athletes. It made it clear that Thomas was a priority. It made it clear that its female athletes – specifically its swimmers – were inconsequential.

One male swimmer over hundreds of female athletes. It could be thousands or billions, it would make no difference. The man and his idenniny must have priority.

The Ivy League Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships begin Wednesday at Harvard University and Penn’s Thomas – according to the psych sheets –

… Read the rest