This poll is referencing the way that people with schizospectrum disorders are stereotyped in media as being violent/aggressive. The stereotype leads to a great deal of unwarranted suspicion and distrust toward people with these disorders. The question is intended to survey whether people have actually had any violent encounters with people who have schizospectrum disorders.

–

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

why am I getting new followers >:[

im noticing that for a lot of americans “free palestine” has been an ideological motto and symbol rather than them actually believing in their heart that freedom is attainable and necessary

i hope that the discussion about student protests does not get reduced to "privileged rich kids faffing around at an ivy league school." setting aside that tenuous claim, over the last week, protests have erupted over the entire country. a few days ago, riot police beat, pepper-sprayed, and arrested NYU faculty shielding students; protests started at the university of southern california when the admin cancelled the valedictorian's speech; encampments appeared at the university of southern carolina, UT dallas, the university of maryland, the university of new mexico, IUPUI, virginia tech, the university of virginia, the university of illinois, the university of north carolina — chapel hill, the university of pittsburgh, uc berkeley, the university of michigan — ann arbor, MIT, emerson, tufts, the university of rochester, rice, swarthmore, the new school, vanderbilt university, with students arrested; students protested or walked out at miami university, northwestern, temple, the 5 claremont colleges: pomona, pitzer, scripps, harvey mudd, and claremont mckenna, stanford, washington university in st louis, students were arrested at ohio state, students were confronted by riot police at cal poly humboldt, after which they occupied campus, students were arrested at the university of minnesota — twin cities, after which faculty walked out; and yes, there are protests at the other ivies, most notably yale, with students facing mass arests after encampments, but there is also an encampment at brown, protests appeared at cornell, princeton faculty issued a statement of solidarity while students are preparing an encampment, and harvard banned the undergraduate palestine solidarity committee. there are thousands of students who are protesting for palestine across the entire country, facing harassment, arrest, and suspension in return

I've started a charity to raise money for confused or exasperated cowboys. Please consider donating to the What In Foundation

One thing that helps me calm down about intra-left-wing sniping and the reality that the big center-left coalition inevitably includes a lot of ridiculous nonsense, is to remember how ubiquitous seances were to progressive politics in the 19th century.  Like, e.g., Frederick Douglass had to go to so many seances. Many, many political strategy sessions around the country had to include feedback from the ghost of Moses who spoke to us via morse code.  

new poll. are you going to marry a passionate antistratfordian who nonetheless loves the works, or someone who doesn't like shakespeare at all but understands he was real

worlds smallest nitpick but my least favorite post format and speaking style on tumblr is “give me [x]. give me [y]. give me [z].” absolutely nothing objectively bad it just drives me up the wall

I'm still stuck on that bad politics/same interests marriage poll. Would you honestly be with someone who didn't read just because they had “good” politics?

I mean, it was a joke poll, but what’s the gold standard for Bad Politics?  Even if I were entirely apolitical and didn't center my politics on highfaluntin' bullshit like universal human rights, my religion (and lack thereof), sexuality, and gender identity are still politicized, so the marriage options would necessarily have to be limited to those whose ideology could accommodate my personhood to begin with. After all, even if we do share interests, it would be impractical for a couple to attend a pre-concert lecture by Jordi Savall together when one regards the other (and possibly even Jordi Savall) as degenerate.  Is the choice, then, between Phineas Q. Fascist and Shawna Shares-My-Core-Beliefs-But-Isn’t-The-Exact-Same-Kind-of-Communist-I-Am?

Anyway, I’ve never been with anyone who didn’t read at all, but I’ve dated people who didn’t fuck with fiction or poetry. It wasn’t ever a problem—they liked seeing me lose my shit over literary criticism and I liked seeing them lose their shit over water resources engineering and nanoethics, or whatever. That mutual admiration went a long way.  I do understand the “must love dogs” approach to relationships up to a point, but I also believe people should give themselves more credit than fandom gives a character who ate a ham sandwich once and is now always drawn holding a ham sandwich: the specific things we like are only a part of who we are.

Also, there are a lot of excellent reasons not to lose touch with friends when you get into a relationship, and that one is a biggie: when you aren’t relying on one person for all your enrichment, you don’t have to get frustrated when they don’t want to accompany you to the three hour Bloomsday Eve Spook-tacular in some associate professor’s unfinished basement.

tl;dr c'mon man

okay everyone reblog and tell me your favorite perfume. but if your favorite is glossier you… don’t bother

Well well well well well

(gift link)

A new study financed by the International Olympic Committee found that transgender female athletes showed greater handgrip strength — an indicator of overall muscle strength — but lower jumping ability, lung function and relative cardiovascular fitness compared with women whose gender was assigned female at birth.

That data, which also compared trans women with men, contradicted a broad claim often made by proponents of rules that bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports. It also led the study’s authors to caution against a rush to expand such policies, which already bar transgender athletes from a handful of Olympic sports.

The study’s most important finding, according to one of its authors, Yannis Pitsiladis, a member of the I.O.C.’s medical and scientific commission, was that, given physiological differences, “Trans women are not biological men.

…The authors cautioned against the presumption of immutable and disproportionate advantages for transgender female athletes who compete in women’s sports, and they advised against “precautionary bans and sport eligibility exclusions” that were not based on sport-specific research.

…Supporters of transgender athletes, and some scientists who disagree with bans, have accused governing bodies and lawmakers of enacting solutions for a problem that doesn’t exist. There are few elite trans female athletes, they have noted. And there has been limited scientific study of presumed unalterable advantages in strength, power and aerobic capacity gained by experiencing puberty as a male.

For those who have competed in the Olympics, results have varied widely. At the 2021 Tokyo Games, Quinn, a soccer player who is trans nonbinary and was assigned female at birth, helped Canada’s team win a gold medal. But Laurel Hubbard, a transgender weight lifter from New Zealand, failed to complete a lift in her event.

“The idea that trans women are going to take over women’s sports is ludicrous,” said Joanna Harper, a leading researcher of trans athletes and a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon Health & Science University.

This is awful, though:

Dr. Pitsiladis said he and his research team have received threats. That, he warned, could lead other scientists to shy away from pursuing research on the topic.

“Why would any scientist do this if you’re going to get totally slammed and character-assassinated?” he said. “This is no longer a science matter. Unfortunately, it’s become a political matter.”

a stud in black leather on a black motorcycle just revved their engine at me and thank god I tore my demonic uterus out ages ago because I think that would have finally knocked me up

Happy Passover from Rudy Giuliani

just found the most fascinating anti-ai person who is only anti-ai because they make and sell the software that spambots USED to use to flood the internet with low quality SEO-bait garbage and chatgpt is putting them out of business. what a fascinating category of human to be. i had never even considered that someone had to be actually making the spambots and that they have feelings too.