#article 50

[ironmanrecords]

Formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom to the people of the European Union regarding Brexit and a gesture of hospitality

Dear People of the European Union, I am writing this letter for and on behalf of the United Kingdom to extend our heartfelt apologies for the impact of Brexit on the people of the European Union, and for the personal insult, distress and uncertainty it has caused. I didn’t vote for Brexit, I voted to remain and I have had to learn to respect and accept the outcome of the referendum and it’s…

[afterlife-2004]

IM WHEEZING AT THIS

[disease]

How LGBT Civil Servants Became Public Enemy No. 1 in the 1950s

Denounced, questioned, pressured to resign and even fired, LGBT people were once rooted out of the State Department in what was known as the Lavender Scare.

[pemiski]

Captain Wentworth once wrote, in a letter addressed to Anne Elliot: "You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope... I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant."

Oliver Aiku has never written a letter in his life. The longest message he's ever sent you consisted of three lines, and only because one of them was a typo he resent. He is not, as the poets would say, a man of words. You’ve tried consoling yourself with the assurance that maybe, he’s a man of actions instead— but that too is proving quite difficult, as you stare at the oven that is smoking. The countertop is scorched. Three pans are balanced in the sink like a greasy game of Jenga, and the kitchen smells like fear.

You're half a mind to laugh, but Oliver’s sheepish smile is already in place, and he's rubbing rthe back of his neck the way he always does when he's panicking. He's been like that since you walked through the door.

“Should I call for reinforcements?” you ask, grimacing as you drop your bag onto the nearest chair.

“No, I, uh... I think I got it,” he says, turning toward the kitchen to assess the damage that had been done. Then he turns right back around, visibly rethinking every life choice that’s led to this moment.

“We got it,” he corrects, looking at you pointedly, flashing you a boyish smile. ��Right, baby?”

No, your boyfriend is not a man of words, or actions. If anything, your boyfriend might be better off staying far, far away from both.

[batt00ny]

ANGEL INVESTOR PICK UP THE PHONE

[labelleizzy]

NYTimes: Don’t Believe Him

Don’t Believe Him https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-trump-column-read.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

Encouraging to listen to, auditorally soothing, heartening.

What is it the kids these days used to say?

Ah. He's FRONTING.

Flooding the zone is their strategy. They want us off balance, on the "run", or on the defensive, and despairing.

ACTION fends off despair. Pick one thing you will defend strongly. You can CARE about more things , (I'm certainly not the boss of you,) but if you choose one kind of ACTION, it helps your mental health and endurance/resilience.

(I'm calling congresscritters with 5Calls, you do you. )

Keeping your head in YOUR OWN GAME , your family, your community, your interests and joys, keeps THAT LOT OUT of your head.

I love you, let's stay safe out there .

[retropopcult]

A young woman sticks her head out the window of a bus which had just arrived in Paducah, Kentucky. She was posing for LIFE magazine photographer Ralph Crane for a 1952 story on the town, which had been dubbed "The Atomic City": in 1950, the US government selected Paducah as the site for a large uranium enrichment facility which grew the town considerably during the Cold War.

[child-of-hurin]

Only idealized systems that involve infinity — an infinitely long tape, an infinitely extensive grid of particles, an infinitely divisible space for placing pinballs and rubber ducks — can be truly undecidable. No one knows whether reality contains these sorts of infinities, but experiments definitely don’t. Every object on a lab bench has a finite number of molecules, and every measured location has a final decimal place. We can, in principle, completely understand these finite systems by systematically listing every possible configuration of their parts. So because humans can’t interact with the infinite, some researchers consider undecidability to be of limited practical significance. “There is no such thing as perfect knowledge, because you cannot touch it,” said Karl Svozil (opens a new tab), a retired physicist associated with the Vienna University of Technology in Austria. “These are very important results. They are very, very profound,” Wolpert said. “But they also ultimately have no implications for humans.” Other physicists, however, emphasize that infinite theories are a close — and essential — approximation of the real world. Climate scientists and meteorologists run computer simulations that treat the ocean as if it were a continuous fluid, because no one can analyze the ocean molecule by molecule. They need the infinite to help make sense of the finite. In that sense, some researchers consider infinity — and undecidability — to be an unavoidable aspect of our reality. “It’s sort of solipsistic to say: ‘There are no infinite problems because ultimately life is finite,’” Moore said. And so physicists must accept a new obstacle in their quest to acquire the foresight of Laplace’s demon. They could conceivably work out all the laws that describe the universe, just as they have worked out all the laws that describe pinball machines, quantum materials, and the trajectories of rubber ducks. But they’re learning that those laws aren’t guaranteed to provide shortcuts that allow theorists to fast-forward a system’s behavior and foresee all aspects of its fate. The universe knows what to do and will continue to evolve with time, but its behavior appears to be rich enough that certain aspects of its future may remain forever hidden to the theorists who ponder it. They will have to be satisfied with being able to discover where those impenetrable pockets lie. “You’re trying to discover something about the way the universe or mathematics works,” Cubitt said. “The fact that it’s unsolvable, and you can prove that, is an answer.”

[calkale]

me once a year when i decide its time to learn every single thing about chernobyl again

[chadlesbianjasontodd]

Closely connected to the act of name signing was the act of writing poems on walls. As scholars have already pointed out, with beginnings traceable to the Six Dynasties, wall poems (tibishi) were already very widespread during the Tang. By Christopher Nugent's count, well over one thousand entries in the Complete Tang Poems had titles indicating that they began as inscriptions on some surface other than paper or scrolls. These surfaces included walls at places of gathering and transit, such as post stations, scenic sites, inns, and increasingly in the latter part of the Tang, Buddhist temples, which also served public roles for lay gatherings and performances. (100)

In one anecdote, a latecomer casts aspersions on a first writer's literary skills, comparing him to the general Xiang Yu (232-202 BCE), who was infamous for having learned just enough writing to manage his name: "Li Tang signed his name on a pavilion in Zhaoying County. When Wei Zhan [jinshi degree 865] saw it, he took a brush and dashed off a taunt: 'The rivers of Wei and Qin brighten the eyes, / but why is Xiren short on poetic spirit? / Perhaps he mastered only what Beauty Yu's husband could / learning to write just enough to put down his name.' " ... It would not be a stretch to imagine the sniggering of those who read this inscription in a frequented pavilion. (102)

For a degree seeker in Chang'an, these circuits of information and judgment received more discussion than the actual examination itself. Tang literati wrote copiously about activities such as name signing, public exposure, and triumph. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in ninth-century temples and popular recreation areas, the vertical spaces were teeming with verses that clamored for attention. (104)

selections on poetic graffiti from linda rui feng's city of marvel and transformation: chang'an and narratives of experience in tang dynasty china (university of hawaii press, 2015)

[oddwomen]

Jet (February 25, 1954)

[wantbytaemin]

I want to hear about your fave recent scientific discoveries, Ana!!

what do i know abt science though LMAOFIODJF

[dykekarkat]

hualian has gotten to me i fear. sorry im susceptible to yaoinsanity. sorry i cant help but feel crazy about unconditional love and support. anyway guess who finished the first book.

[brookbee]

On November 17th of 1973 David Bowie met William S. Burroughs. A few months later their conversation would be published in Rolling Stone. photographer: Terry O'Neill

[wendersfive]

Weekend Update: Jane Wickline on Sabrina Carpenter's Netflix Christmas Special - SNL

[fanlore-wiki]

Featured Article: Melbourne Science Fiction Club

This week’s Featured Article is about the Melbourne Science Fiction Club!

Originally called the Melbourne Science Fiction Group, this club was founded on 9 May 1952. It currently claims status as the second oldest science fiction club in the world (after the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) and the oldest in the southern hemisphere.

The club has been a locus for science fiction activities and support networks, for friendships and creativity, and for the production of fan films, newszines, fanzines and conventions. As of 2024, the MSFC runs meetings on the third Friday night of each month, and produces a newszine, Ethel the Aardvark.

Learn more about the Melbourne Science Fiction Club on Fanlore!

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