obsessed with this sign i saw taped up outside the bat room at the zoo yesterday. the enthusiasm, the hand-written note, the bat drawing.
The mascot of LaTeX, the document preparation program, created by Duane Bibby as a companion to the mascot for underlying TeX typesetting system (from LaTeX - User's Guide and Reference Manual)
i had to explain a joke to adam in blackadder where stephen fry asks for "his hat" during a court martial. "oh yeah, in england they wear this stupid fucking hat when they sentence you to death" and then like the full realization of that hit me and like. what is wrong with them over there
imagine your judge putting his gay napkin on his stupid wig before declaring YOU unfit for life. like the psychic damage must be unreal
This is slightly stupider than the other stupid hat the British have (the single top hat they keep in parliament, which you have to wear to speak)
my half-assed research suggests that that hasn’t been the case since 1998, when they abolished it because people kept making fun of them once sessions started being televised
It was a collapsible one, too.
this is one of the funniest things ive ever seen in my entire life. holy shit he's so smooth with it
Sooooo now if you’re North African or Black you cannot wear a long dress at school anymore which extend to public servants jobs.
France really said “Wait we need to remind everyone of our Islamophobia”.
Basically the Abaya has been declared to be a religious garnement and as such it is now not allowed to wear it in schools. Given that they cannot differentiate a abaya from a long dress (because there’s no fucking difference) they will have to pick when it’s a abaya and when it’s just a long dress… and as everyone can already see it they will pick by deciding that Arab, Amazigh, North African and Black girls are automatically wearing a abaya.
Earlier this year a Muslim girl went to high school as usual. She was wearing a “kimono” on top of her clothes and a teacher started disagreeing with her about her clothes. The girl told him it was a “kimono” which is not religious and targeting her specifically for wearing one was an Islamophobic bias.
She was expelled from class and then expelled from school until her hearing with the school board to confirm her definitive (or not) expulsion.
Before and during the hearing teachers largely agreed that her clothes were not religious at all. The problem was that she called the teacher Islamophobic for targeting her specifically. The teacher then said that he couldn’t sleep anymore that he was just scared and it reminded him Samuel Paty. I won’t stay too long on the fact that it’s a piece of shit far right move to mention an actual victim of terrorism as a way to pass yourself as a victim when the situations have nothing to do with each other. This teacher put on the same level a Muslim girl wearing a kimono and an actual terror attack.
Just because the teacher mentioned Samuel Paty the girl was put in FUCKING POLICE CUSTODY and an investigation was open.
This is a kimono
Imagine ending in police custody because you wore this on top of your clothes and called out the teacher who made racists comments about what you were wearing.
The girl ended up being humiliated and being deprived of weeks of school the same year she was supposed to pass her high school exam.
Most “Educational professionals” need no training to be racist pieces of shit and to target young girl they perceive as Muslims.
They tried to ban freaking headbands. HEADBANDS. Saying that Muslim girls were wearing them to replace the hijab.
For french readers, this op-ed was published yesterday by Jean Baubérot, emeritus Professor of the “History and Sociology of Laïcité” Chair at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.
He is the best French academic on this question of the interpretation of the law of 1905 which created the concept of Laïcité and separated the Church from the State. He has written many books that are definitely worth reading to understand how every government since 2004 (and the law that banned students from wearing religious symbols in school when neutrality was until then required only of teachers), whether they are right-wing governments or left-wing governments, have distorted this notion due to their drift to the far right.
Some important points that he raised in this article :
Le ministre a annoncé l’interdiction des abayas à l’échelle nationale. Certes, ainsi, il est mis fin aux incertitudes mais le périmètre établi en 2004 se trouve de nouveau élargie par décision du prince. Et une autre tenue risque de ne pas tarder pas à devenir problématique ! Rappelons que la plupart des autorités musulmanes, notamment les instances comme le CFCM et la Fondation pour l’islam de France (censée conseiller le gouvernement en la matière) ne considèrent pas l’abaya comme étant un « vêtement religieux ». Pour l’institution scolaire, en revanche, elle le devient. L’école, au nom de la laïcité, s’institue donc en instance qui fabrique du religieux ! Elle gémit, se plaint que des prédicateurs extrémistes en profitent. Ceux-ci « testeraient » l’école républicaine et Attal a repris cet argument. Mais c’est l’institution elle-même qui décide qu’il s’agit d’un « test ».
The minister (of Education : Gabriel Attal) announced a nationwide ban on abayas. Admittedly, this puts an end to the uncertainties, but the perimeter established in 2004 is once again widened by the act of the Prince (norms that are purely arbitrary). And another outfit might soon become problematic! Remember that most Muslim authorities, including organisations such as the CFCM and the Foundation for Islam in France (which is supposed to advise the government on the matter) do not consider the abaya to be a "religious garment". For the school institution, on the other hand, it becomes so. The school, in the name of Laïcité (separation of the Church and the State), therefore establishes itself as an authority that manufactures religion! It moans, complains that extremist preachers are taking advantage of it. These would "test" the Republican school and Attal took up this argument. But it is the institution itself that decides that it is a "test".
Actuellement, quand on demande aux élèves une définition de la laïcité, ceux-ci vous donnent un catalogue d’interdits et, sauf très rares exceptions, ils ne mentionnent pas la liberté de conscience. Pourtant celle-ci constitue la finalité primordiale de la laïcité. Significativement et volontairement, la loi de 1905 débute par : « La République assure la liberté de conscience ». Le reste en découle : le « libre exercice des cultes » dans le cadre d’un ordre public démocratique, le fait que « la République ne reconnait, ne salarie et ne subventionne aucun culte », sauf dans le cadre « de services d’aumôneries » pour garantir, précisément, dans des lieux fermés (prisons, hôpitaux, armée, …), « le libre exercice des cultes », qui est inclus (sans être exclusif) dans la liberté de conscience (suite de l’article 1 et article 2 de la loi).
Currently, when students are asked for a definition of laïcité, they give you a catalog of prohibitions and, with very few exceptions, they do not mention freedom of conscience. Yet this constitutes the primary purpose of laïcité. Significantly and intentionally, the 1905 law begins with: "The Republic assures freedom of conscience". The rest follows from this: the "free exercise of worship" within the framework of a democratic public order, the fact that "the Republic does not recognize, pay or subsidize any worship", except within the framework of "services of chaplaincies to guarantee, precisely, in closed places (prisons, hospitals, army, …), "the free exercise of worship", which is included (without being exclusive) in the freedom of conscience (continuation of article 1 and article 2 of the law).
Je propose que l’on étudie dans les différentes classes, dès la journée de rentrée, les deux premiers articles de la loi de 1905 et les propos d’Aristide Briand, rapporteur de la Commission parlementaire, présentant cette loi : il s’agit, indiquait-il, de proclamer « solennellement que, non seulement la République ne saurait opprimer les consciences ou gêner dans ses formes multiples l’expression extérieure des sentiments religieux, mais encore qu’elle entend respecter et faire respecter la liberté de conscience et la liberté des cultes. »
I suggest that we study in the different classes, from the first day of school, the first two articles of the law of 1905 and the words of Aristide Briand, rapporteur for the Parliamentary Commission, presenting this law: it is a question, he indicated, to proclaim "solemnly that, not only can the Republic not oppress consciences or hamper in its multiple forms the outward expression of religious sentiments, but also that it intends to respect and ensure respect for freedom of conscience and freedom of worship."
Quand au vêtement, Briand s’est montré, à ce sujet, on ne peut plus clair : il a refusé l’interdiction du port de la soutane pour deux raisons : d’abord, fondamentalement, parce que la loi de 1905 est une « loi de liberté » et qu’en conséquence, elle ne doit pas « interdire à un citoyen de s’habiller de telle ou telle manière » ; ensuite, parce que le résultat serait « plus que problématique » : la soutane interdite, on pourrait compter sur « l’ingéniosité combinée des prêtres et des tailleurs » pour créer un « vêtement nouveau ». La loi de 1905 = la liberté de conscience + le refus de jouer au chat et à la souris. Intelligence des principes et intelligence de la stratégie.
When it comes to clothing, Briand was very clear on this subject: he refused the ban on the wearing of the cassock for two reasons: first, fundamentally, because the law of 1905 is a " law of freedom" and that, consequently, it should not "prohibit a citizen from dressing in such and such a way"; second, because the result would be "more than problematic": once the cassock was banned, one could rely on "the combined ingenuity of priests and tailors" to create a "new garment". The law of 1905 = freedom of conscience + the refusal to play cat and mouse. Intelligence of principles and intelligence of strategy.
woke up today and realized that tumblr entirely killed fuck ya life bing bong so here ya go again
By far the funniest transition timelines are the ones from trans men where the "before" picture is some teeny little guy with sad baby seal eyes and the "after" picture looks like Kratos
This is one of the top posts in r/transtimelines and it really sums up what I'm talking about
My irl saw this post and sent me this even crazier transformation today! The little guy to Kratos pipeline is real!!!
that guy straight up turned into Funky Kong
Tag yourself as this list of “bad art” features, according to a twitter fascist
They want a violent crime wave to exist so fucking bad but it never happened so they had to make a moral panic over shoplifting and loitering ie things people use as examples of the most minor types of misdemeanor crimes but even then they had to fudge the numbers with fucking shoplifting
The late 2010s/early 2020s teen edgelord music renaissance really has me doing the gangster Bugs Bunny pose
this is for a part-time job as a barista
on an application to work the front desk of a hotel
Oklahoma is working to determine how much water remains in its aquifers, information that state lawmakers could use to set limits on pumping. But Christopher Neel, the head of water rights for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, said people might not necessarily welcome the government telling them that their land is running out of groundwater.
“If we start showing that kind of data, that kind of goes into your property values,” Mr. Neel said. “If we show an area may be depleted in, let’s say, two years, well, if someone tries to sell that property, they’re not going to be able to.” [...]
The National Association of Home Builders, asked about the wisdom of building houses where water is running out, said the industry was responding to the demands of homebuyers who want to live in those areas.
Susan Asmus, the association’s senior vice president for regulatory affairs, said builders follow the rules that local officials establish. She said it was up to governments to determine where and how it’s appropriate to build homes. The officials who approve those developments “obviously think they can manage the challenges,” Ms. Asmus said in a statement. [...]
Any effort to impose federal oversight would very likely face opposition from agricultural groups. The American Farm Bureau Federation, which represents farmers, said states were best suited to address groundwater problems. The federal government’s role should be to spend money on infrastructure projects and help farmers pay for new technology, according to Courtney Briggs, the federation’s senior director of government affairs.
I'm not going to post any of it here because virtually every paragraph of this article is graphic enough to require a trigger warning, but the point is: no matter how evil you believe cops to be, no matter how hardline you think you are on the ACAB thing, you're still probably under-selling it.
redditors being less misogynistic than tumblrinas it's so over
I'm going to sleep instead of ranting the way I really want but let it be said that so many of you have forgotten or pretend not to know what the actual power dynamics in straight relationships are like. now I'm left wishing that woman kills her boyfriend over some stupid ass cake
I checked the ‘Coalition for A Democratic Workplace’ and uhhh
Cool!
From the NLRB's office of public affairs:
"Under the new framework, when a union requests recognition on the basis that a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit have designated the union as their representative, an employer must either recognize and bargain with the union or promptly file an RM petition seeking an election. However, if an employer who seeks an election commits any unfair labor practice that would require setting aside the election, the petition will be dismissed, and—rather than re-running the election—the Board will order the employer to recognize and bargain with the union. "
Chinese officials told their counterparts at multinational institutions that the many hardships Xi survived during the Cultural Revolution—when he lived in a cave and dug ditches—helped shape his view that austerity breeds prosperity, the people said. “The message from the Chinese is that Western-style social support would only encourage laziness,” one person familiar with the meetings said.
So funny that the last important Marxist in the world is a Hard Times Create Strong Men Protestant Work Ethic Bootstraps guy.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
there is an academic text I've been trying to get my hands on, and I tracked down an ebook copy held by the national library, but due to legal restrictions it's only available for viewing on a library computer on their premises. like the only way I can read this research is to go to the national central library, book a computer desk, and scroll through it on a pc monitor for hours on end.
this digital copyright shit is so stupid, it makes me SO fucking mad. it costs nobody anything to let readers access this shit from home. it's a bunch of bits and bytes, the ebook file already exists. but publishers (and I include universities in this) are so brain rotten and craven that they will block any attempt to make information more accessible just in case there's a chance they'd miss out on one person with a really specific research interest paying them like £17 to look at a word document in a more comfortable chair.
want to get even madder? the library only has 'one copy' of this ebook. we have this infinitely reproducible data resource but only one person is allowed to go and sit in a computer lab and scroll through it at a time!!! if you want to rent access from elsewhere, that'll be £17-30 depending on the gateway site. Want to buy a copy of the book? tough shit idiot. it's a niche academic text that's out of print, it's going to cost you upward of £70.
want to become the joker? it's a book about how the printing press fueled an explosion in accessible literature during the french revolution.
be pro-aging but wear sun screen. sun protection is not beauty industry propaganda it will save you. wear it. or else.
