wren

@wren@feddit.uk

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Protection zones around abortion clinics in place by October⁩ ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  If you deny women access to abortion related healthcare, they die. Abortion bans ruin lives, and if you really have to protest abortions (which you shouldn’t), direct your attention towards politicians, instead of harassing women who need healthcare and are already having a horrible time.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Burning Up⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  the wet bulb temperature^1^ is just the temperature of a wet thermometer, and varies with humidity and temperature. Wet bulb temp is never higher than the dry bulb temp, so (entertainingly) you’re proposing that the meaning of 100° varies wildly and is always lower than the true temperature, effectively making the air temperature always ≥100°, and increases when the air is drier, like some sort of inverse relative humidity.

  ^1^(I’m aware you probably didn’t mean wet bulb temperature here, but let’s have fun with the idea) :)

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Publishing Revenue⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  that makes a lot of sense! I’m very grateful to be part of an academic community that seems to value open access, as well of part of a university that pays for access and submission to most of the journals I need to use

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Publishing Revenue⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I’ve only ever published in open access journals (partially because I’ve only got 3 papers out, but also out of preference) is it just prestige that makes people go with pay-to-view journals? or are there other factors?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The circle of life⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Using “,” as ellipses here is a pretty interesting tone indication feature!

  On Tumblr, “…” ended up having connotations of judgement or anger, so to avoid that, people evolved to use “,” as a softer version (often implying a more silly/amused tone) instead !

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Secretary Birbs⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  video of secretary bird with a fake snake

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Schools to teach children how to spot fake news and ‘putrid’ conspiracies online⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Hugely agree, those would all be fantastic additions.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Schools to teach children how to spot fake news and ‘putrid’ conspiracies online⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, there’s definitely a difference between curricula, what’s focussed on in classrooms, and exam assessment criteria, but they’re supposed to be cohesive.

  I remember one of my big pieces of coursework was “writing from the perspective of an advertiser,” and we had loads of lessons on identifying bias. I was taught in school that “red top magazines” are “less honest and more emotive” than “broadsheet newspapers.”

  Presumably not everyone had the same experience though: I mentioned this offhand and my friend told me “surely that’s illegal to teach in a classroom?!”

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Schools to teach children how to spot fake news and ‘putrid’ conspiracies online⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  This is actually a very minimal change to the already existing curriculum - the (compulsory) English Language GCSE is 50% “Critical reading and comprehension”

  Gov UK states all specifications must include:

  “identifying bias and misuse of evidence, including distinguishing between statements that are supported by evidence and those that are not; reflecting critically and evaluatively on text”

  Most people presumably… “forgot”? but this has been in the curriculum for decades

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Civil servants cannot wear ‘fetish gear’ to work, minister confirms⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t have a telegraph account - someone summarise?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Tawny Frogmouth⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  not to be confused with Potoooooooos !

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨First-time buyers spending 40% of pay on mortgages⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  My first thought was that 40% was low… but I suppose I’ve never been a first time buyer, so they probably have higher salaries than I do

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Stonehenge tunnel scheme scrapped by government⁩ ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  When I saw Stonehenge as a kid, we just drove past it really slowly, with my dad saying “don’t worry, everyone else wants to slow down to look too!”

  Now I make that drive every few weeks 🫠

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨The amount of sugar consumed by children from soft drinks in the UK halved within a year of the sugar tax being introduced, a study has found.⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Fact check: the guardian has completely messed up their reporting here. The paper they’re citing attributes a 9.7% decrease in children’s total sugar consumption to the sugar tax.

  The “sugar consumption halved!” is more accurately: “free sugar from soft drinks only” dropped from 22g per day (pre-tax) to 12g per day (post-tax).