@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Sbectol

@Sbectol@toot.wales

Not selling nothing. I don't work for money.

DMs are not private on Mastodon, so please assume everything you write here is public.

Dwi'n siarad Cymraeg.

Hates: Dickens

#nobridge

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Yesterday I was looking at a (£12k!) year-long tailoring course.

I wonder if that can be worth the money.

Sbectol, to random
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I'm not a fan of hovis.

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@matt yeah. I usually bake my own bread but sometimes think I'll try bought stuff. Not often a fan

fkamiah17, to random
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

WEEK 33: This twat thought it was funny to visit Liverpool's Gaza Solidarity Encampment and blast "Rule Brittania" at them.
The students who were woken up chanted "Free Palestine" until he went away 😂
via Middle East Eye

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@fkamiah17 ironic and sad. The flag-waving and anthem singing British rump seem to think that the (white) English are the only group who might want justice and not to be slaves.

As if the Palestinians are just going to roll over and say "oh yes, sorry you are right. Your song has persuaded me that only the British deserve freedom. How wrong we were.."

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

From an artist's point of view, is there any difference between you buying a donated CD from a charity shop and downloading pirated music from a torrent site?

Neither gives the artists, songwriters, producers, publishers, or distributors any money.

Neither reports to a charts authority to show popularity.

Both have the same impact on secondary revenue like gig tickets & merchandise.

Vote now - and please show your workings.

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@Edent at least with the charity the money goes to the charity

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

So what's the problem with an elected Muslim politician saying "Allahu Akbah?" when they win a seat?

Surely that's no difference than (for example) a Catholic crossing themselves or someone saying "Thank the Lord"

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Oh dear, my daughter is thinking of moving to Reading, Berks.

Edent, (edited ) to random
@Edent@mastodon.social avatar

You receive a call on your phone.
The caller says they're from your bank and they're calling about a suspected fraud.

"Oh yeah," you think. Obvious scam, right?

The caller says "I'll send you an in-app notification to prove I'm calling from your bank."

Your phone buzzes. You tap the notification This is what you see.

Still think it is a scam?
1/3

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@simonwood I tend to be suspicious. The only time my bank ever called me was from the security dept and I refused to believe it was them and called back on the main number and asked to be transferred.

That’s not to say that I wouldn’t be taken in by a different fraud, of course

@Edent

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

I wonder if anyone would like to rent-a-dad. No hanky or panky. No diy.

Early 50s, won’t do anything that would embarrass my daughter.

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

London is properly weird

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I was critical of the Cass Report earlier, talking about how discounting studies that weren't double blinded RCTs was bad form. Apparently Dr Cass has responded, saying that '"obviously" young people could not be blinded as to whether or not they were on puberty blockers or hormones because "it rapidly becomes obvious to them [...] But that of itself is not an issue because there are many other areas where that would apply"' https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-68863594

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick it's fairly standard practice for medical reviews to only consider the strongest evidence, which is essentially only RCTs.

But at the same time that's not necessarily saying that the other studies are bad or wrong, just that they can't be used in a medical review.

But it is certainly confusing even to other scientists.

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick it seems like the AI bros are trying to change the conversation with academics; seems like they are saying that AI is inevitably going to be a major part of life for every student so universities need to take account of it (and encourage use), and here's a fancy new AI tool to help with that

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I’m not a medical researcher by any means but it seems to me that throwing out evidence for the success of medical interventions simply because they are not RCTs ignores a lot of basic research best practice for meta reviews, especially for vulnerable subjects. The requirement for blinding seems to be an unattainable standard too given the inevitable noticing of any placebo effect in this case. Anyway suffice to say I’m not convinced by the methodology of the evidence handling of the

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick it feels like they’ve introduced a very high bar when saying “x medication has been used for a long time with y group but we are not going to count that evidence when consudering the safety for group z”

I’m not a medic either but that seems like convoluted logic

fkamiah17, to UKpolitics
@fkamiah17@toot.wales avatar

The belief that private school students can just waltz into grammar schools as some kind of "second choice" is a perfect example of the educational exceptionalism these people think is their right.
I met so many stupid people from public schools at my university. The idea that they would have either been selected or passed the 11+ to get into my (or any other) grammar school is for the birds.
Paying for a "first class education" doesn't make you intelligent.

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@BashStKid my daughter scraped the Kent test (went on to get 10 GCSEs at A and a first-class degree)

Bizarrely when I went to a Gloucestershire grammar school in the 80s, there was no test at all

@fkamiah17

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@BashStKid generally speaking, wealthy middle class people always game the system. The only difference between Kent and elsewhere in England is that Kent parents game the Kent Test whereas elsewhere they buy houses in the right catchments.

@fkamiah17

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Remember when they used to say "all the double-ews" when reading out web addresses?

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Check these out. Top photo, HRH looking like a Bond villain

Bottom photo HRH in a train accident. Sadly he survived without unjury

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Look at this photo. Mountbatten looks smiley. Edward (or whatever his name was then) already looks like a Nazi.

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Oooh yes. This one is nasty

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick I can’t really do justice to the text… but the photos are Something Else

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

My goodness. That news about the various Open Collective entities is a complete mess

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick sounds like there's quite a risk to the other entities too given that the OCF was so large. All seems rather too intertwined, which also seems to be self-defeating even at the point where these things were set up

Sbectol, to random
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

Not surprised people in their early 20s are suffering from mental health issues;

The 16-18 education system is stupidly stressful for many, with a not insignificant number struggling with gender dysphoria

They've lived through COVID, making the last year of school and/or uni completely messed up

They can't get housing

They can't get permanent work

They're constantly applying for jobs

They have no money and/or time, few friends, not much life

What did you expect?

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

As someone who did her PhD on consent I just want to flag a few things in the bsky bridge discussion. One: medical style disclosure based consent (terms and conditions, EULAs etc.) is totally inappropriate for this sort of situation and has been for decades. But it serves the needs of slow-moving legal requirements and companies that like people to forget they signed up to stuff (or were coerced into doing so for social or other reasons). See https://liedra.net/thesis for more details. (1/n)

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick on this point - isn't this mostly about education?

Those of us who have come here from Twitter must surely be aware that messages go beyond the platform (see the guy who made a joke on twitter and was arrested)

Sbectol,
@Sbectol@toot.wales avatar

@CatherineFlick I don't really agree that's an expectation.

I don't think people normally think about it (if they did, maybe they'd be using a closed platform rather than on a public platform).

Complaining afterwards seems to me to suggest people don't understand the consequences of a public platform

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