Notices by Flick ?? (flick@spinster.xyz), page 5

@graf @Moon @jeffcliff @mk @ninapaley Weird.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chips-are-down-for-us-farmers-as-potatoes-set-to-lose-vegetable-status-8tmd8xm2g

Is the potato truly a vegetable? The humble spud is in the eye of a storm in America over plans to uproot its classification.

Currently designated a “starchy vegetable”, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee is considering moving the potato out of the vegetable box and into the same category as grains such as rice, wheat and oats.

@AnungIkwe Didn’t they classify ketchup as a vegetable at one point?

@mk What’s that flower-like thing on the left?

@sim @amerika I’ve just realised you tagged his wrong account: @amerika

I think the term he uses is “ultra-right”, but I may be misremembering.

@alex

Any idea what’s going on with my notifications? My iPhone 12 mini updated to iOS 17.1.1 a few days ago and ever since I’m getting this.

I’ve rebooted and tried turning notifications off and then back on, which reset the count but otherwise didn’t do anything. It seems to max out at 101 notifications.

@PeachySummer @Sui @mushroom_soup @D00B Sorry, not a cat person!

I would guess there’s not much you can do without a vet other than keep him warm and well fed. Make sure the air’s not to dry, if you have the heating on. Keep an ear on his breathing.

@Sui @mushroom_soup @PeachySummer @D00B I’m a rarity ;)

How long’s it been going on? VetMD reckons anything over ten days is time for intervention.

Is he drinking? I’d be more worried by that than loss of appetite (and would be trying things like dilute chicken stock, tuna water, lactose-free milk). If there’s anything he particularly likes to eat, just give it him. Fish, chicken, meat, whatever.

@Sui @D00B Good luck, hope you get the poor little guy sorted out soon.

I wonder if spotting AI text/images/voices is going to turn into one of those really niche but unteachable roles, like chick sexing or being a super-spotter.

@HoolaHoolaNope @polarisera Wait, the same plant gets yellow and then pink flowers? Or the yellow flowers change to pink as they age?

https://twitter.com/rpondiscio/status/1717314100575846746

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/10/30/macron-rejects-gender-inclusive-writing-french/

“In French, the masculine is neutral. We don’t need to add points in the middle of words or hyphens to make it readable,” said the French President at the opening of a new language centre in the town of Villers-Cotterêts, about 50 miles northeast of Paris, on Monday.

The French Senate will discuss banning gender-inclusive writing on Monday evening, in order to “protect” the French language. This move reopens a long-standing debate that has divided the country between Right-leaning language purists versus the Left and feminists.

https://archive.ph/MrljC

Tips if you are at risk of flooding, from R4 PM:

• move your car!
• sandbags only stop water for minutes, don’t bother
• duct tape over air bricks (sheet of plastic too if you have it)
• ditto or fast-drying silicone sealant up the sides of doors (to about 1m: higher is a structural risk)
• move memories upstairs, or onto the dining table (bag over legs to prevent damage)
• double-bag garden soil and put it down the loo, over the shower drain, over plug holes

I’ll also add one I saw when it was obvious a once-in-fifty-years winterbourne was about to start flowing: borrow a mini-digger and make a channel around your house.

@Piss_Ant I did not know that, but it bothers me too.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/10/27/woke-capitalism-is-more-than-just-a-branding-exercise/

But those of us tired of woke capitalism need to hold off celebrating just yet. Today’s bosses remain committed to wokeness. They really believe that it is their role to promote anti-racism or transgender inclusion alongside selling mayonnaise or beer. The decades-long turn to woke capitalism has never been just a matter of image and advertising. It has always been a mission, too.

So although companies are back-tracking right now on hectoring adverts, many are still signed up to ‘B Corp’, a certification process that measures their ‘entire social and environmental impact’. According to its website, Certified B Corporations ‘are leaders in the global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy’. Wokeness is not just a marketing ploy. It forms the fundamental principles driving capitalism today.

@djsumdog @realcaseyrollins @Piss_Ant Like I linked to in my post ;)

@realcaseyrollins @djsumdog @Piss_Ant Yup.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-euthanasia-for-babies-canada-finds-itself-sliding-down-a-slippery/

appeared before the Special Joint Committee of Medical Assistance in Dying and raised the notion of extending assisted dying to babies up to a year old “who are born with severe deformations, very grave and severe medical syndromes, whose life expectancy and level of suffering are such that it would make sense to ensure that they do not suffer.” This would, in practice, be euthanasia. Speaking on behalf of the college’s board of directors, Dr. Roy noted that the protocol is already in practice in the Netherlands (albeit, in extremely rare circumstances).

https://archive.ph/7s1pE

@HebrideanHecate Poor girl, but I’m glad they’re finally applying the law and prosecuting.