#framework

[trans-axolotl]

ID: [A poster created by Sean Saifa Wall and Micah Bazant of a Black parent holding their child. They are dressed in white and almost seem to be glowing, in front of a backdrop of multicolored waves that look like DNA strands. Colorful text reads "Protect Intersex Youth."]

"A Framework for Intersex Justice

Intersex justice is medical justice. Intersex surgeries hurt everyone.

These medical violations bring immediate harm to the child who is subjected to them.

Parents who consent to medically unnecessary surgeries participate in a culture of shame, silence and stigma, perpetuated by doctors, that allows these surgeries to continue. Parents are often left to fend for themselves as they navigate shame and guilt. The issue of parents consenting to these surgeries is especially complex when societies believe that children don’t have individual rights and that parents are always acting in their best interest.

Medical practitioners such as pediatricians, obstetricians, urologists, social workers, and endocrinologists all play a role in upholding an institution that continues to harm children with intersex variations. The practitioners, in turn, are protected by hospitals and state laws that grant them immunity.

This is why intersex justice is important.

Although the framework is evolving, the following is a definition of intersex justice co-created with Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis (they>she), an Associate Professor of Gender/Sexuality in Studio and Humanistic Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art: Intersex justice is a decolonizing framework that affirms the labor of intersex people of color fighting for change across social justice movements. By definition, intersex justice affirms bodily integrity and bodily autonomy as the practice of liberation. Intersex justice is intrinsically tied to justice movements that center race, ability, gender identity & expression, migrant status, and access to sexual & reproductive healthcare. Intersex justice articulates a commitment to these movements as central to its intersectional analysis and praxis. Intersex justice acknowledges the trauma caused by medically unnecessary and nonconsensual cosmetic genital surgeries and addresses the culture of shame, silence and stigma surrounding intersex variations that perpetuate further harm.

The marginalization of intersex people is rooted in colonization and white supremacy. Colonization created a taxonomy of human bodies that privileged typical white male and female bodies, prescribing a gender binary that would ultimately harm atypical black and indigenous bodies. As part of a liberation movement, intersex activists challenge not only the medical establishment, which is often the initial site of harm, but also governments, institutions, legal structures, and sociocultural norms that exclude intersex people. Intersex people should be allowed complete and uninhibited access to obtaining identity documents, exercising their birth and adoption rights, receiving unbiased healthcare, and securing education and employment opportunities that are free from harm and harassment. This framework serves a radical vision where intersex children are protected and survivors of genital cutting are cared for and respected. We owe that to intersex people and we owe that to ourselves.

The implementation of an intersex justice framework should include the following components: 1. Informed consent 2. Reparations 3. Legal protections 4. Accountability 5. Language 6. Children's rights 7. Patient-centered healthcare."

-Intersex Justice Project, founded by Sean Saifa Wall, Lynnell Stephani Long, and Pidgeon Pagonis.

[narwhals-randomness]

Friendly reminder that Agents of SHIELD season 4 episode 16 is a perfect representation of our society.

HYDRA (the government) was breaking into schools and taking kids out. Inhuman kids. If that’s not a parallel, then I don’t know what is.

And there it is ladies and gentlemen, Agents of SHIELD predicted the future.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Words cannot express how much pleasure I get from upgrading the hardware on my Framework laptop.

Came back from minor surgery to find my second-gen webcam waiting for me. Thanks to the peel-back magnetic bezel, I was able to suspend the computer, swap the hardware, and then wake from suspend and start using it right away.

Damn is the picture ever *sharp*, and I love the new "your webcam hardware is disconnected" screen that comes up when I toggle the hardware switch. As promised the OS recognizes the camera instantly when I toggle the switch back again.

Best $40 I've spent this year.

[suzeequbee]

been making these tiny cross stitch trinkets. it's fun coming up with the designs ..i sketch them in procreate, and then stitch em up! the last one with legend of zelda triforce of courage artifact didn't have a wooden backing, so i added the tiny lightning bolt patch found on etsy (PaperPailShop)

[rainintheevening]

"And by 'us', you don't mean me."

Gosh dang it, Grant, you got me sobbing. HE'S WILLING TO LET DAISY GO. HE'S WILLING TO LAY DOWN HIS LIFE TO LET A VERSION OF THE WOMAN HE LOVES LEAVE HIM BEHIND. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

There was a little good in him all along, there was just no one who understood how desperately he needed help to keep it alive. I am Emotional, okay??

[agentoffangirling]

I think this would be a good time to watch the Framework episodes from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in regards to the next four years in the United States

[nixcraft]

Do you need to build a static website for fun or profit?

Try the Simple.css Framework. It is a CSS framework that makes semantic HTML look good.

A good-looking sans-serif local font stack.

Typographic best practices.

Automagic flipping to dark mode.

Fully responsive.

Sensible defaults that format standard + HTML elements.

Super lightweight (10k css).

Give it a try @ https://simplecss.org/ (my home page https://vivekgite.com for live demo).

[marvelsgirl616]

forever my favorite skimmons moment. this episode was so well written and lil, chloe and ian did such an amazing job 😭💔

[nogoodninny]

It’s so terrible how conditioned Fitz was from Aida and the Framework. But May’s programming wasn’t conditioned out of her, which made her meeting framework Coulson so fucking funny

Coulson: SNAP OUT OF IT MAY

May: *protect Coulson senses tingling* what the fuck?

[playstation7app]

#STEVEMADDEN X #CHANEL

[SteveMadden x CHANEL]

[mutter-official]

Did you see those fancy new framework thingys? (The laptop 12 and desktop)

no i had not but i just looked them up

the laptop 12 looks super cool, depending on my situation after I get out of school I might consider it or whatever its equivalent is by the time i'm graduating; it's nice to see a repairable device with a (theoretically good) touchscreen and stylus

i don't completely see the point of the desktop, i mean it's really just a mini-itx pc that's halfway prebuilt and halfway diy. theoretically then you get the benefits of a prebuild (guarantee that everything fits and works, not having to go through all the effort of picking every individual part, etc.) with the benefits of diy (upgradability, mostly), but personally i don't think it's that much more work to just build smth diy. idk hopefully they sell the case separately because nice mini-itx cases are sometimes hard to come by

[moonys-chocolate28]

Im watching agents of shield and im on s4 e16

The Framework reality is so funny to me

Idk why it made me so happy that ward was a mole or why i hadnt anticipated it but i immediately said, out loud "oh, how the tables have turned"

But it actually jumpscared me when they showed their picture tg at the end of the last episode AND when he called her skye

Oh and also when he was all romantic in the morning? Im scarred

Though what actually BROKE me is that she saw "your boyfriend" and immediately thought lincoln, even went as far as calling ward lincoln when he was in bed, like okay im sad now

"There are things about me you wouldn't like if you knew" BRO "yeah, i know" OH MYY

And coulson having made research on everything he remembers from the real world?? Like thats my man oml hes amazing

Fitz being the mastermind behind HYDRA is genius and actually shows what it would be like if he used his skills for evil

May being like a top agent in hydra also just makes sense in my head

Lastly, it's a magical place.

[no7er]

Framework, Digital artwork, 2025

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Zincchump Linkdump

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in DOYLESTOWN TODAY (Mar 1), and in BALTIMORE TOMORROW (Mar 2). More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

I've got a really good excuse for finishing this week with a folder full of links that didn't make it into the newsletter – I'm on a crazy book tour and I've been in four cities this week alone. Time for another linkdump! Here's the previous 28 'dumps:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

I like to start these 'dumps off on an upbeat note, and this week, I've got something gratifyingly cool and wondrous. Stars Reach is a "living galaxy sandbox MMORPG" led by Raph Koster, the legendary designer of games like Ultima Online and Star Wars Galaxy. It's kickstarting right now:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starsreach/stars-reach

Here's the pitch:

Whether it’s water turning dirt to mud or forests growing back after a devastating fire, every action leaves a mark. This isn’t a static world built by developers – it’s a living, breathing galaxy shaped by you. Resculpt landscapes, build entire cities, and yeah, ruin more planets just like humanity ruined their original eight homeworlds. That’s okay – there are always more worlds in our endless galaxy.

I've seen demos of this coming together for years and it is mind-boggling. You can play it like a galactic trade-empire builder, a shoot 'em up, a first person shooter, a resource management game, a MUD, and more. There are thousands of procedurally generated planets with realistic geology, geography and ecosystems. It's like something out of a Neal Stephenson novel. They're mostly done and just raising money to finish and launch. I gave 'em $100. They're projecting delivery in January. I can't wait!

It's pretty wonderful to see accomplished creators like Koster, who have gone from strength to strength, making a series of ever-cooler things as technological advancements let him realize the vision he'd been chasing since the 8-bit days. It's quite a contrast with HP, a company that was once world-renowned for making the highest quality, most reliable instruments and machines, and is now synonymous with the scuzzy inkjet rip-off.

I love a good dig at HP. This week, The Register's Paul Kunert scored a direct hit with a short news squib about the executive compensation package announced for HP CEO Enrique Lores: "261,658 toner cartridges" (that is, $19.36m):

https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/26/hp_ceo_pay_for_2024/

I would like to live in a world in which all unreasonable expenses were denominated in HP printer cartridges (much as the BBC compares ever extremely large or massy thing to a London double-decker bus). Anything to make it easier to grasp the vast forces that shape our world and bring them into focus so we can understand them – and destroy or change them.

One economic school that does this extraordinarily well is "Capital as Power," which concerns itself with the "social power of capital" – that is, how capital shapes our behavior and outcomes. It's a complicated but extraordinarily clear and useful framework for making sense of the world. This week, Naked Capitalism published a long colloquoy on Capital as Power, featuring Michael Hudson (a great economist and historian of debt), political economist Tim Di Muzio, and two of CasP's top proponents, Jonathan Nitzan and Blair Fix (whose work I have featured in this newsletter many times). It's a long, fascinating discussion – just the thing to relax with over a weekend:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2025/02/capital-as-power-in-the-21st-century-a-conversation.html

Capital as Power grapples with power, the force that neoclassical economists could never figure out how to fit into a neat mathematical model and thus decided to discard. Refusing to think about power gets you into all kinds of trouble, from deciding that markets for human kidneys are "voluntary" to the denaturing of political parties into institutionalist weaklings like the Democrats, who are completely overwhelmed by the power-focused MAGA GOP as it dismantles the nation.

Writing for The American Prospect, Nick Tagliaferro rounds up "Ten Democrats Who Need to Be Primaried":

https://prospect.org/politics/2025-02-27-these-ten-democrats-need-to-be-primaried/

For years, Tagliaferro was the loudest voice on the Primary School newsletter, which covered primary races. In this guillotine-inspiring listicle, he presents such swamp creatures as Levi Strauss failson Dan Goldman (NY-10), who spent $5m of his inherited wealth to win his seat, from which perch he has done everything he can to undermine his more militant anti-Trump colleagues in the House. More familiar names like Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05) – whom Tagliaferro calls "single most needlessly antagonistic centrist in Congress" – and the ardent homophobe Stephen Lynch (MA-08).

OK, I've got to get into my rental car now and make the 3h drive from State College, PA, where I just did a talk at Penn State, to Doylestown, PA, where I'm speaking this afternoon:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1146230880419

From there, I'm going to Baltimore (tomorrow):

https://redemmas.org/events/

and then I'll be in DC on Tuesday:

https://www.loyaltybookstores.com/picksnshovels

You can catch the whole tour schedule here:

http://martinhench.com

New dates that I'll be adding soon include Pittsburgh:

https://us.pycon.org/2025/about/keynote-speakers/#cory-doctorow

As well as Wellington and Auckland, NZ; and Manchester and London, UK.

Before I go, one last wonderful link to be getting on with. Framework – who make the repairable, modifiable laptop that I love more than any hardware I've ever owned – just announced a bunch of fantastic new machines, including a rugged new, 12" touchscreen laptop with a 180' hinge:

https://frame.work/laptop12

and a desktop PC (!) that has insanely high specs and a fully customizable chassis:

https://frame.work/fi/en/blog/introducing-the-framework-desktop

I spend so much time on the road, I have no conceivable use for a desktop PC, but man, this is tempting. What a sweet rig!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/01/menagerie/#stars-reach

[selfcestmovies]

Natasha Romanoff didn't bat her eye at experimental new tech – it was part of the job, after all. So when the SHIELD labrats asked her to test-drive a new holographic simulation... "Why the hell not," was her quick and quippy reply. It was an early developmental prototype of a platform called the Framework, designed by some young SHIELD recruit as a consequence-free space for training simulations.

Seemed innocent enough to give it a whirl.

And again, for Nat, when the training went off the rails and she found herself trapped in an unstable simulated reality... she wasn't surprised. The techs in the surface world would bring her back eventually – all she had to do was stay sane in this troublesome virtual world in the meantime.

As the system continued to glitch out and threw new bugs her way, she was surprised to realize that not all of them were dangerous. When the program duplicated her, that's when she raised her first eyebrow. Now, having been tripled, Nat started to worry.

Although these other Nat simulations seemed pretty laid back, despite her initial concerns. And trapped in a room with three of her, all eager to pass the time... Natasha found herselves game for another type of... experiment.

* * * * *

I was really happy with my first Nat attempt – Love, Natasha – but couldn't help but do more for our girl. I wanted to really give her Avengers-era character a chance to shine 😈.