#six nations 2022

[thewales-family]

❤️🫶🏻

[coochiequeens]

If Drageset’s verbal commitment is finalized, it will result in a male seizing one of just twelve D1 scholarships intended for women’s volleyball at the University of Washington. The twelve scholarships are often spread out over the course of four years, with as few as two to three being offered per year."

He's OK with taking a full scholarship ment for a woman and women who object are told to "be kind". Kindness goes both ways, as in not taking scholarships and opportunities ment for others.

By Anna Slatz December 13, 2023

Reduxx has learned that a volleyball player from California is reportedly set to become the first known male recipient of a women’s Division 1 (D1) athletic scholarship. Tate Drageset, 17, has verbally committed to the University of Washington, and, if the offer is signed next fall, he would be seizing one of only twelve D1 volleyball scholarships available for females at the University.

The announcement of Drageset’s verbal commitment to the University of Washington was made in June to much fanfare within the volleyball community, with multiple sporting magazines and social media accounts covering the verbal commitment.

Drageset has long been considered a rising star within women’s volleyball, and he was the dominant force on two USA Volleyball teams in two separate age groups that both claimed national titles last summer. He was also named an MVP at the Girls Junior National Championships earlier this year. In addition to his club volleyball accolades, he was awarded the title of the California Interscholastic Federation’s Division 5 Player of the 2022-23 Year.

But Drageset’s transgender status has reportedly been concealed from public knowledge, with coaches, parents, and opposing players being left uninformed of his biological sex ahead of games.

Now, for the first time, a source close to the situation has anonymously come forward to reveal concerns about the steady escalation of Drageset’s participation in women’s volleyball, something which has now resulted in him preparing to take a rare, all-expenses-paid athletic scholarship opportunity

If Drageset’s verbal commitment is finalized, it will result in a male seizing one of just twelve D1 scholarships intended for women’s volleyball at the University of Washington. The twelve scholarships are often spread out over the course of four years, with as few as two to three being offered per year.

The source, who is the parent of a minor player within the Southern California Volleyball Association (SCVA) community, said suspicions were raised years ago when Drageset’s performance far surpassed that of his teammates. At the time, Drageset was 12-years-old but was playing against 14-year-old females in one effort to make up for his obvious advantages.

“You could tell even back then that he was different from the girls,” the parent says. “As he got older, it became more obvious that something was off. Anytime the subject of [Drageset] would come up EVERY PARENT from any SCVA team already knew about him. Parents look around before they speak in hushed tones. Some will wait to discuss until outside the gym.”

The parent revealed that most families have been hesitant to speak out due to fears that their daughters will be penalized.

“Everyone is scared of how their child will be treated if they speak up. It’s already so competitive to get on a good club team,” the parent said. “The stealing of positions and opportunities has been infuriating and so sad when you see how it affects the girls. There is no concern for their mental health or safety after being replaced.”

Speaking to Reduxx, representatives from the Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) noted that a number of local families have become aware of Drageset’s participation in women’s volleyball, but that there had been silence from his family, who appears to be actively obscuring his status.

“We know many of the girls he’s playing against do not know that they are competing against a male. There has been no consideration from his family to tell female athletes or coaches the truth. They have not been transparent, so girls are repeatedly and unknowingly put at a disadvantage and not given the chance to opt out over increased safety risks,” Marshi Smith said.

Her colleague, Kim Jones, added: “We also know that many local families do know and they are angry that their daughters are continuously put in a position to lose to a male player in girls’ sports. They recognize it is unfair and potentially unsafe as more instances of concussion injuries inflicted by male athletes arise.”

ICONS, a non-partisan campaign group, was launched in 2021 to address the issue of male self-identification into women’s sport, with co-founders Smith and Jones both being former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes. Jones’ daughter was also one of the female swimmers forced to compete against transgender athlete Lia Thomas.

While Drageset’s transgender status appears to have been carefully concealed by his family in recent years, his mother, Stacey Drageset, reportedly commissioned a short film to be made about Tate in 2016. Titled “Trans-mission.love,” the documentary-style film was produced when Drageset was 12-years-old. While his face is not shown in the film, Drageset can be seen holding a volleyball with his first name on it, and playing volleyball on the beach in sections from the trailer.

Around the same time, Drageset’s mother took his story to the Los Angeles Times, where she revealed that she became convinced her son was transgender due to his preference for “feminine” clothing and colors as a toddler. In the article, Drageset’s parents state that they showed him an interview with Jazz Jennings at age 6 and felt their son “related” to Jennings.

Curiously, the year before Drageset’s family began touting his journey as a “trans kid,” his mother published a children’s picture book on gender identity, one which was recently named in during inquiry into age-appropriate books in Texas schools.

While identifying as a “girl,” Drageset’s athletic performance has been far and above that of his female colleagues and competitors. Earlier this year, he took home a silver medal and $2,000 prize while competing against mature professional female volleyball players at the Teqvoly World Tour.

When compared to same-height female athletes within his volleyball club, Drageset’s standing reach, vertical jump, and other key physical metrics are all more favorable, something ICONS says is unsurprising even if Drageset had been placed on “puberty blockers” at a young age.

“No male is ever going to go through female development. Their bodies are not comparable in thousands of ways. Puberty blockers do not remove predicted adult height and males have a 5 or 6 inch advantage that influences athletic performance particularly in sports like volleyball,” Kim Jones said, pointing to a literature review completed by Drs. Gregory Brown and Tommy Lundberg.

The review, released earlier this year, stated that “the current evidence suggests that male children retain sex-based advantages in body height and lean body mass which may allow for retained male athletic advantages” even when placed on hormones or puberty blockers at an early age.

Jones also points to the fact that the net in women’s volleyball is set over 7 inches lower than in men’s, not just because men on average are six inches taller, but because the male vertical jump is at least 20% higher than that of a woman of the same height.

The ICONS representatives place much of the blame on the NCAA, the governing body which regulates collegiate athletics in the United States. Following the Lia Thomas controversy in 2022, the NCAA attempted to clarify its position on transgender athletes, but just sowed more confusion amongst critics.

“Right now, the NCAA guidelines and the upcoming Biden Administration’s Title IX reinterpretations incentivize male athletes and their families to hide their sex from women and girls,” Marshi Smith says, noting that the NCAA largely does not question any athlete’s biological sex, or allow for such interrogations to occur under “discrimination” policies. She likens it to “showing someone a pile of treasure” and then leaving it unguarded, as the NCAA provides substantial financial and professional incentives for athletes.

“We’re facing a situation where women aren’t even allowed to know if they’re putting themselves at increased safety risk. It’s as if men are allowed to do what they want to women so long as they can get away with it. The message to teams across the country is that if men excel at deception or if the NCAA effectively silences women, men are allowed to compromise women’s safety, dignity, and privacy.”

Smith adds: “The only solution to provide women with fair and safe sport is to have a female-protected category with no exceptions.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this article mistakenly attributed a study on trans-identified male participation in women’s sport to Byron Wolter of the Center on Sport Policy and Conduct. Mr. Wolter provided editing, but the article was written by Dr. Gregory Brown of the University of Nebraska-Kearney and Dr. Tommy Lundberg of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The article has been updated to reflect the correction.

[thesquirrelqueer]

what a year

[oscar-piastri]

j'ai rêvé que melvyn jaminet jouait contre l'irlande, clairement juste un rêve

[batshit-auspol]

So a bit of background first for our international followers: Clive Palmer is one of Australia's many mining billionaires who like to meddle in our country's politics, and as such he is utterly despised by all of Australia.

Picture for context:

He is most commonly known online by the title "Fatty McFuckhead", (problematic as it may be) because he tried to sue a youtuber for $500,000 for calling him that - and he lost. So the name stuck.

Up until his most recent foray into parliament, the legally certified Fuckhead was best known for his batshit business ventures, such as attempting to build "The Titanic 2" (failed) and trying to build a dinosaur theme park (also failed, but at least nobody got eaten by a T-Rex in this one).

For a very long time Clive played the role of sugar daddy to Australia's largest conservative party, the ironically named Liberal Party, until they had a falling out in 2012 after Clive claimed there was too much money influencing politics (lol), at which point he started his own party, days after saying he totally quit and wasn't fired and he only left because he didn't want to be a distraction.

His initial run at parliament was actually kinda successful, with Palmer's group winning 4 seats, plus a member from the "Motoring Enthusiasts Party" joined them too after accidentally getting elected and not knowing what the fuck to do.

Despite this initial success however, Palmer's party (which ran on basically no platform other than "I'm rich") hit an iceberg (titanic 2 achieved) and seven elected state and federal politicians quit within the first year.

By the time the next federal election rolled around, only one Palmer party candidate was still running for re-election. The most successful of this group - Jaquie Lambie - quit to sit as an independant and is still in parliament today.

Here she is with a painting of herself strangling Clive (she sells signed copies of this)

And here the senator is posting about liking sausage:

Anyway, we're getting to the point: which is the yellow posters. By the 2016 election, just two years after forming, the party was in complete freefall. It won just 0.01% of the vote at their second election, and it was announced shortly after that Clive was quitting politics and the party was being shut down. Australia breathed a sigh of relief.

It was, of course, short lived.

Clive, in desperate need of attention, restarted the party for the 2019 election, fielding candidates in every seat and spending $60 million in advertising in an attempt to win votes.

Every single candidate lost.

It was in this campaign however that Australia really started to fall out of love with Palmer, because most of that $60 million went towards putting up the world's least compelling marketing billboards on almost every single free space in the country.

For a good six months this was basically the only thing you would see in Australia if you went outside:

Clearly Graphic design is his passion. And yes, the genius did just straight up try and copy Trump's homework while changing a few words, hoping nobody would notice.

Very quickly these all got vandalised and it seemed the ad companies didn't care enough to replace them.

We could go on posting examples, there are thousands, but the best is definitely the one Ikea put up shortly after Clive lost the election:

In 2022, Clive's party contested the election AGAIN, this time also opting to send millions on spam text messages to every person in Australia begging for people to vote for him, as well as buying almost every youtube ad for a year, at the cost of $100 million.

He won a whopping one seat.

During this election Clive ran on an anti-lockdown, anti-vax platform with the slogan "freedom, freedom, freedom". That message, however, was slightly undermined when his goons, dressed in 'Freedom!' shirts, made national news for trying to beat up a protester who turned up at a rally dressed as an annoying text message, shouting "pay your workers" at Clive.

As if that wasn't bad enough, at another rally Clive knocked himself unconscious while trying to jump up on stage, and then a few weeks later was rushed to hospital with covid, while his anti-vax ads were still in regular rotation on TV, at which point it was also leaked to the press that Palmer had been alledgedly trying to buy Hitler's car.

Utterly humiliated, the party deregistered again shortly after the election.

Can't wait until he runs again in 2025.

Anyway, on the other "Clive tweeting Miss Kobayashi's Dragon" thing, we have no idea what that means but here's a screencap:

[reasonsforhope]

"This week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced a new rule requiring airlines to make bathrooms more accessible for disabled people. All new single-aisle aircraft will be fitted with fully-accessible lavatories.

Most flights inside the United States are single-aisle and as technology has improved, they are used more frequently for long flights, including coast-to-coast trips that can last as long as six hours. Double-aisle plans are already subject to the regulation but are primarily used for international flights.

Out Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced the new regulations, saying, “Traveling can be stressful enough without worrying about being able to access a restroom; yet today, millions of wheelchair users are forced to choose between dehydrating themselves before boarding a plane or avoiding air travel altogether.” ...

The secretary has made it a priority to improve service on airlines during his tenure. In 2022, six airlines were forced to pay millions of dollars in refunds to hundreds of thousands of customers and were also fined millions for causing the issues. The department’s firm stance on the side of customers has continued through this year after multiple companies have had meltdowns, stranding thousands of travelers.

All planes delivered to airlines starting in 2026 must include several upgrades. Planes already in service will not need to be retrofitted unless the plane is renovated.

“These aircraft must have at least one lavatory of sufficient size to permit a passenger with a disability (with the help of an assistant, if necessary) to approach, enter, and maneuver within the aircraft lavatory, to use all lavatory facilities, and leave by means of the aircraft’s onboard wheelchair if necessary,” the DOT said in a statement.

Accessible faucets and controls, grab bars, accessible call buttons and door locks, minimum obstruction to the passage of an onboard wheelchair, and an available visual barrier for privacy are also required upgrades."

-via LGBTQ Nation, July 28, 2023

Wayyyyyyy fucking overdue but I'll take it!! Also, very nice curb cut effect: We all get to be less miserable on airplanes, and older people don't have to worry as much about airplane bathroom fall risks.

[baynton-nation]

Mathew Baynton in 2022

[rangpurcity]

Suryakumar Yadav 5 Records: This year was in the name of Suryakumar Yadav ... Lots of fours and sixes in T20 .. Know his 5 big records

Suryakumar Yadav 5 Records: This year was in the name of Suryakumar Yadav … Lots of fours and sixes in T20 .. Know his 5 big records

Suryakumar Yadav 5 Records: This year was a great year for Suryakumar Yadav, famous as Mr. ‘360’ in Indian cricket. This right-handed batsman played many such innings in the year 2022, which gave the team a memorable victory. Suryakumar Yadav also made many records during this period. The middle order batsman of the Indian team was rewarded for his brilliant innings in the rankings. Suryakumar is…

[zvaigzdelasas]

The International Court of Justice has issued a ground-breaking decision in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, ordering Israel to comply with six provisional measures to safeguard the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from genocidal violence.

The court’s order is binding on Israel and formalizes the international legal obligations of other countries that are parties to the UN Genocide Convention.

Properly understood, the order should dramatically alter both the foreign and domestic policy decisions of Israel’s allies, including Canada and the United States.

Israel and its allies cannot dismiss or minimize the importance of this decision. In granting interim relief, the court concluded that South Africa’s allegations of genocide are, at a minimum, legally and factually plausible.

Crucially, the court expressly concluded, by an overwhelming majority, that Palestinians in Gaza face a “real and imminent risk” of genocide. This puts other countries on notice that they have an international legal duty to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza in accordance with the court’s order.

As the court stated in a 2007 ruling when Bosnia accused Serbia of genocide, countries that are parties to the Genocide Convention have an obligation to prevent and a corresponding duty to act “the instant that the state learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed.”

Both Canada and the U.S. have construed the court’s decision narrowly, suggesting it merely reiterates Israel’s right of self-defence and obligation to comply with international humanitarian law.

This is a legally indefensible reading of the court’s ruling.[...]

Statements of political support by the U.S. and Canada that Israel is abiding by the laws of war — contrary to the facts — cannot shield Israel or its allies from their legal obligations under the Genocide Convention. Those obligations — including to prevent genocide — are created via treaty and are interpreted by courts, the highest of which is the International Court of Justice.

The obligation to prevent genocide, combined with the court’s finding of a serious risk of genocide, means that all parties to the Genocide Convention must refrain from taking steps that would actively frustrate the effective implementation of the court’s order.[...]

But just hours after the court’s ruling, the U.S. announced it was suspending funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.[...]

The U.S. is the biggest financial contributor to UNRWA. Several other key donor countries, including Canada, quickly followed suit.

UNRWA is the largest aid provider in Gaza and a trusted lifeline to civilians in the territory. Even if the allegations are true, defunding the entire organization openly defies the court’s order and amounts to collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza

Disturbingly, moves to defund UNRWA appear to help implement Israeli government plans to undermine the organization’s capacity to deliver aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Earlier this month, policy experts told the Knesset that UNRWA “must be dismantled and thrown in the dustbin of history” and that “no country that is a friend of Israel should provide them any money.”

The ICJ found that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further,” plausibly inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.

Accordingly, any country’s action knowingly contributing to further deterioration would violate the obligation to prevent genocide and could amount to complicity in genocide.[...]

In 2022, Canada sent more than $21 million worth of military exports to Israel. The Export and Import Permits Act forbids arms permits to be issued if there’s a “substantial risk” that the goods could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.

Because the ICJ found a serious risk of genocide in Gaza, continuing to export arms to Israel would be illegal. It would also be flagrantly inconsistent with Canada’s obligation to prevent genocide, and could expose Canada and Canadian officials to liability for participation in genocide.

We must reject the politics of deliberate indifference to atrocity currently on display in the Canadian government’s reactions to the ICJ ruling.

28 Jan 24

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week

1. ‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power

Greetings, readers! Welcome to our weekly dose of positivity and good vibes. In this edition, I've gathered a collection of uplifting stories that will surely bring a smile to your face. From scientific breakthroughs to environmental initiatives and heartwarming achievements, I've got it all covered.

In May, a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst published a paper declaring they had successfully generated a small but continuous electric current from humidity in the air. They’ve come a long way since then. The result is a thin grey disc measuring 4cm across.

One of these devices can generate a relatively modest 1.5 volts and 10 milliamps. However, 20,000 of them stacked, could generate 10 kilowatt hours of energy a day – roughly the consumption of an average UK household. Even more impressive: they plan to have a prototype ready for demonstration in 2024.

2. Empty Office Buildings Are Being Turned Into Vertical Farms

Empty office buildings are being repurposed into vertical farms, such as Area 2 Farms in Arlington, Virginia. With the decline in office usage due to the Covid-19 pandemic, municipalities are seeking ways to fill vacant spaces.

Vertical farming systems like Silo and AgriPlay's modular growth systems offer efficient and adaptable solutions for converting office buildings into agricultural spaces. These initiatives not only address food insecurity but also provide economic opportunities, green jobs, and fresh produce to local communities, transforming urban centers in the process.

3. Biden-Harris Administration to Provide 804,000 Borrowers with $39 Billion in Automatic Loan Forgiveness as a Result of Fixes to Income Driven Repayment Plans

The Department of Education in the United States has announced that over 804,000 borrowers will have $39 billion in Federal student loans automatically discharged. This is part of the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to fix historical failures in the administration of the student loan program and ensure accurate counting of monthly payments towards loan forgiveness.

The Department aims to correct the system and provide borrowers with the forgiveness they deserve, leveling the playing field in higher education. This announcement adds to the Administration's efforts, which have already approved over $116.6 billion in student loan forgiveness for more than 3.4 million borrowers.

4. F.D.A. Approves First U.S. Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

The move could significantly expand access to contraception. The pill is expected to be available in early 2024.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved a birth control pill to be sold without a prescription for the first time in the United States, a milestone that could significantly expand access to contraception. The medication, called Opill, will become the most effective birth control method available over the counter

5. AIDS can be ended by 2030 with investments in prevention and treatment, UN says

It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt non-discriminatory laws, the United Nations said on Thursday.

In 2022, an estimated 39 million people around the world were living with HIV, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS program. HIV can progress to AIDS if left untreated.

6. Conjoined twins released from Texas Children’s Hospital after successfully separated in complex surgery

Conjoined twins are finally going home after the pair was safely separated during a complex surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital in June.

Ella Grace and Eliza Faith Fuller were in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for over four months after their birth on March 1. A large team of healthcare workers took six hours to complete the surgery on June 14. Seven surgeons, four anesthesiologists, four surgical nurses and two surgical technicians assisted with the procedure.

7. From villains to valued: Canadians show overwhelming support for wolves

Despite their record in popular culture, according to a recent survey, seven in 10 Canadians say they have a “very positive” view of the iconic predators. 

Here's a fascinating video about how wolves changed Yellowstone nat'l park:

----

That's it for this week :)

This newsletter will always be free. If you liked this post you can support me with a small kofi donation:

Support this newsletter ❤️

Also don’t forget to reblog.

[thewales]

OH WOW 😮

The Times:

The Prince of Wales is to build and fund a £3 million social housing development on his land to tackle homelessness.

William has overseen plans to construct the 24 homes in Cornwall to be ready next year. They will provide high-quality accommodation in an area with one of the most acute homelessness problems in the UK.

The development in Nansledan, a suburb of Newquay, the Cornish seaside town famous for its surfing, will include a mix of four-bedroom houses and one-bedroom flats.

The duchy, which provides the heir to the throne with an income, recorded profits of £24 million in 2022-23. It will supply the land for the project free of charge and cover all construction costs. It will also invest in local infrastructure, including a bus link and connections to electricity, water and superfast broadband.

The new low-carbon homes will feature slate roofs, granite lintels, solar panels, heat pumps and colourful timber windows. It will be built in a “traditional Cornish seaside” style, designed by Adam Architecture and local firm ALA Architects.

It is understood William wants the development to “look and feel as homely as possible” to combat the stigma of social housing. The site will also be re-landscaped and shrubs and wildflowers planted to encourage biodiversity.

Sources close to William, 41, said he wanted to “lead from the front” and encourage other landowners to build more social housing. He is said to be considering further projects on his land.

The duchy is working on the project with the Cornish homelessness charity St Petrocs with the long-term aim of helping people move from temporary accommodation at Nansledan into permanent homes.

It will provide residents with a range of “wraparound services”, including mental health support, counselling, training and employment opportunities, in what Kensington Palace described as the duchy’s “first innovative housing project to help address homelessness”.

For future local developments, HRH has committed to increasing affordable housing from the 30 per cent national requirement to 40 per cent, with a focus on social housing, meaning an extra 200 affordable houses will be built in Nansledan, where there are 1,020 homes at present.

Last year William, who is patron of the homelessness charities Centrepoint and the Passage, launched Homewards, a five-year initiative to tackle homelessness. It will provide £3 million from the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales — £500,000 to six locations across the UK where groups of housing experts, businesses and councils will work on plans to end homelessness in their areas.

Experts from Homewards will also work on the Nansledan project with the hope that its success can be replicated nationwide, and in the Homewards locations in Northern Ireland, Lambeth, Aberdeen, Newport, Sheffield, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Kensington Palace said: “The prince is delighted that the duchy is using the Homewards approach as inspiration for building this innovative housing project, partnering with St Petrocs to find ways of ultimately getting people into permanent housing.

“It is exactly what he wants to do and for him it’s another example that if we can show people here and in other countries what is possible, maybe others will follow our lead. The prince hopes that every town and city in the country will take inspiration from this project.”

During a day of engagements in Cornwall last year, the duke and duchess visited St Petrocs, which works alongside Cornwall council to identify those experiencing homelessness or at risk of becoming homeless.

William was given a copy of the charity’s book People. Project Cornwall which explores the experiences of people with housing difficulties. He was “deeply moved” and arranged for all members of the Prince’s Council, the Duchy of Cornwall’s board, to receive a copy.

Henry Meacock, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Where Prince William is showing great leadership is in wanting change in the approach to prevention and early intervention around homelessness. “We have a unique opportunity in Nansledan with a socially-minded landowner who has a long-term development mindset, demonstrating to the private sector that you can still be commercial and make a profit but also invest in the local community. The focus for us is about breaking the cycle of homelessness and ending it for good.”

The plans for Nansledan will go out for public consultation this month, with work on the development to begin in September. The first homes are due to be complete the following autumn.

FULL ARTICLE

[valyrfia]

f1 drivers as tracks from the tortured poets department: a very abridged and very biased list.

DISCLAIMER: this is all for fun and should be taken very lightheartedly. Not all drivers were included, but I am open to suggestions as well as constructive criticism.

Without further ado:

CHARLES LECLERC - I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

Absolutely suicidal lyrics that should be mildly concerning but all in all very upbeat and makes you want to run around doing side quests. Such as write an album, or open an ice cream shop. I'm thinking this is specifically 2022 Charles when he trusted no one at Ferrari, or mid-2023 when everyone was calling him washed and calling for his teammate to be n1 driver, and then he proceeded to put it on pole in a tractor multiple times and still hasn't finished outside the top 5 since. Either way, I am looking forward how this song will hit when Charles gets his eventual championship.

MAX VERSTAPPEN - Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

This one is for Mad Max, who was thrust onto the world stage as an untested young prodigy at seventeen, who was called too young and immature and proceeded to win a GP upon debut in a top team, who was called Crashtappen from 2015-2019 and labelled as overly aggressive to his detriment, who was painted as a villain by every media outlet and documentary and DTS episode, who said "fuck the haters" and won championships anyway, who broke records, and made his own national anthem the expected song for every podium. A driver who is fast approaching greatest of all time status, for his win streaks alone. A driver that most others now just shrug about, because there's no shame in not choosing to fight the inevitable.

LEWIS HAMILTON - So Long, London

Ah, the heart-wrenching track of letting go of your long-term British relationship that doesn't serve you anymore. So many lyrics from here I could apply to the rumoured break down of amicable relations between Lewis and Mercedes, the team he won six championships with. From "My spine split from carrying us up the hill" to "I didn't opt in to be your odd man out. I founded the club she's heard great things about" to "you say I abandoned the ship But I was going down with it. My white-knuckle dying grip. Holding tight to your quiet resentment". Honestly, I could copy and paste all the lyrics here and they would apply to Lewis' Merc swan song. Taylor wrote "you swore that you loved me but where were the clues, I died on the altar waiting for the proof." about Abu Dhabi 2021.

CARLOS SAINZ - The Prophecy

Carlos has been delivering some of the best drives of his career this season, but it doesn't matter because he's not the chosen one, he's not il predestinato, he's not the son of Maranello. No matter what he does, he would never have kept that Ferrari seat over the mythos of Charles Leclerc. "Let it once be me. Who do I have to speak to, to redo the prophecy?"

LANDO NORRIS - Guilty as Sin?

Specifically given for half-flirting with Red Bull for most of last season, only to shake himself out of it and re-sign with McLaren, but I have one eye on him, not entirely sure he's given up on the Red Bull daydream, and Red Bull have been open about wanting to get him, if they can. It's all on Lando to stay faithful.

OSCAR PIASTRI - Fresh Out the Slammer

Piastrigate continues to inspire and compel an entire generation of F1 fans, and as such should form the basis of Oscar's song selection. What was the promises that Alpine made him, if not "Gray and blue and fights and tunnels Handcuffed to the spell I was under For just one hour of sunshine"

FERNANDO ALONSO - Florida!!!

Florida!!! is a big and powerful song about being a Shakespearean villain with a History and questionable morals and motives. Who is that if not Fernando Alonso? "Tell me I'm despicable, say it's unforgivable." "Is that a bad thing to say in a song?"

LANCE STROLL - But Daddy I Love Him

Yeah this one is self-indulgent and too good to resist. He's singing it about Fernando btw. Next.

DANIEL RICCIARDO - Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus

Someone is getting that Red Bull seat next year, and every name is on the list except Daniel Ricciardo. "As the decade played us for fools, you saw my bones out with somebody new." Who knows what would have happened if Daniel hadn't left Red Bull, all those years ago? "Just say you loved me the way you were" Oof. We could spend years living in the What Ifs of it all.

[rapeculturerealities]

Two Women Died on an Alaska Mayor’s Property. No One Has Ever Been Charged. — ProPublica

Kirk and Norton, both Inupiaq, had each dated sons of the former borough mayor, and the sons had previously been convicted of beating each of them. One of the sons had admitted to strangling Kirk twice before. Another pleaded guilty to kicking Norton in the stomach when she was six months pregnant.

No one has ever been charged with a crime in connection to the deaths.

In a state where women are 2.5 times more likely than the national average to be killed by a man and Alaska Native women are especially at risk, elected leaders here have repeatedly pledged action. The Department of Justice declared a rural law enforcement emergency in Alaska following a 2019 report by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica on glaring lapses in local policing. Two years later, the governor created a state council on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons, and in 2022, new investigators were hired to solve cases like Norton’s.

Unexplained holes in the investigations into the deaths of Kirk and Norton call into question this commitment, a review by the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica found. More than that, the events leading up to the women’s deaths illustrate how police, prosecutors and judges here have regularly given pass after pass to people accused of domestic violence and strangulation.

[kyleemclauren]

Twothirds Is Enough

A clique of 0.0000015% of the country is going to just unilaterally declare major human rights illegal in this country? Oh fuck no.

Fuck the supreme court. Fuck all politicians. I want a direct vote on everything, and if that vote reaches supermajority support it should be law. Two thirds, 66%, is the threshold for Byzantine fault tolerance, the mathematically strongest guarantee that a decision is the vote of The People in the presence of interference. Higher thresholds are completely unnecessary in a representative democracy.

69% of Americans want Roe to stay. That should make it law.

68% of Americans believe that marijuana should be legal. That should make it legal.

*89%* of Americans support raising the minimum wage. Why hasn't it been raised?

76% of Americans believe that members of Congress should be barred from owning shares in the publicly traded companies that they regulate. I think we know why *that* hasn't been passed!

We're not divided, not really. We are controlled by oligarchs deciding what we are *allowed* to vote on. No more. Votes for everything! Twothirds is enough!

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Update (2022-06-24): Well, it looks like six people have overruled hundreds of millions of people and revoked our federal abortion rights. Gee, it would sure be useful if there were some automatic mechanism for The People to tell the unaccountable god kings their opinions have been rejected!

These examples need to be made into a coherent list - I’ve started a side blog to track twothirds support polls. Please send any national polls with >66% agreement to @two-thirds, especially if the mainstream media pretends the position is “controversial.”

Even though the entire system is broken, we *can* come together to make decisions. Under twothirds, we can begin to clean up the pieces.

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Update (2022-07-07): Uh oh! Looks like England is down a government! Would you like a free one?

[macleod]

In France, all new and existing medium to large parking lots will have to be covered by solar panels

In France, solar just got a huge boost from new legislation approved through the Senate this week that requires all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – be covered by solar panels.

Starting July 1, 2023, smaller carparks that have between 80 and 400 spaces will have five years to be in compliance with the new measures. Carparks with more than 400 spaces have a shorter timeline: They will need to comply with the new measures within three years of this date, and at least half of the surface area of the parking lot will need to be covered in solar panels.

Other measures on the table include building large solar farms on vacant land found alongside highways and railways, as well as on agricultural lands where feasible.

France’s national rail service SNCF also plans to install some 190,000 square meters of solar panels in 156 stations throughout the country by 2025 and 1.1 million square meters by 2030, all with the aim to reduce energy consumption by 25%.

The government also plans to build around 50 additional wind farms likes the one offshore Saint-Nazaire by 2050 in France. Measures are in place to reduce delays in building offshore wind farms from 10-12 years down to six years, and large solar farms from six years to three years.

(Source: Electrek, November 8th 2022)