Links not related to the antichrist:
1. In Praise of Links (March 10, via) Apparently there are large subsections of the internet where people just don't link to things, and/or the platform (Instagram, etc) doesn't support it? I am so boggled by this. Links are great. What is the internet without links?
2. AI Search Has A Citation Problem (March 6, via) "Premium chatbots provided more confidently incorrect answers than their free counterparts."
This study gave AI chatbots quotes from news articles and asked them to find the original article (headline, publisher, date, and url). The chatbots did a pretty bad job of it- but also, this isn't really a normal use case for an AI chatbot/ LLM. Normally you use them to tell you about the general vibes about something, not really to get an exact correct answer.
3. Chinese City Offers Families $13,800 for More Kids (March 14) China's one-child policy ended in 2016. Since then, China has been trying to encourage people to have more kids, by making policies which given mothers more maternity leave, or even in some cities giving families money when they have 3 or more kids.
Really, though, the issue is that after a whole generation under the one-child policy, the economics around having kids are like, you spend such a huge amount of your income on just 1 kid's education- so for most Chinese people, it's unthinkable to have more than 1 kid. I live in China and have 2 kids, and when the second kid was born, both me and my husband got comments from people asking "Why would you have 2 kids??? Kids are so expensive."
So, I think when some city governments give families money for having more kids, that will help increase the birth rate a little bit, but it doesn't really address the real reason the birth rate is so low.
Also from Sixth Tone: Married Chinese Women Are Buying Their Own Homes. Why? (March 18) An article about gendered expectations in marriage in China- the man is supposed to buy a home. This article is about how there's a trend where a wife's parents will buy an apartment, which will be in the wife's name, so that she has her own property, because the main home is in the husband's name (to clarify, this wouldn't be to live in, this would be for her to hold on to as an investment, and/or rent out). Btw, this is about people who have way more money than the average person.
4. What Even is Gender? (Book review) (March 16) "In place of gender identity, George & Briggs propose an alternate framework that they call “gender feels”. Gender feels are attitudes towards oneself having (or the possibility of having) certain gendered traits. They discuss three broad categories for gendered traits: sexed biology, gendered behavior, and gender categories."
5. Harvard will be free for students whose families make $100,000 or less (March 17) This makes me very curious about the statistics on current students' families' incomes. $100,000 seems pretty high to me- does this mean that such a large proportion of the students come from families with much higher incomes than that, such that the school will still receive a decent amount of income from tuition even though it's free for this subset of students? Or is there some mysterious other source of money?
6. ‘I don’t have a sinful bone in my body’ (March 15) "White evangelicals don’t want to talk about the sin of racism, in part, because it challenges their inadequate, unreal, and unbiblical theology of sin."
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| Bumper sticker that says "Pray for Trump / Psalm 109:8" Image source. |
Links related to the antichrist:
1. Trans People are Under Attack and We Must Help Them (March 8) "Guess how many people in Germany were Jewish in January of 1933? Less than .8%. Half as many. Were their lives inconsequential? And did the Nazis stop with them?"
2. Columbia University Obeyed In Advance, Why Is That Not Working Out For Them??? (March 15) "This is what you would call a threat. Or, as the director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia accurately interpreted it, 'We’ll destroy Columbia unless you destroy it first.'"
3. ICE Detention: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) (March 10) 24-minute video
4. Where Is The Line? Democratic Budget Capitulation Foreshadows LGBTQ+ Fights To Come (March 16) "If protecting Medicaid and democracy isn’t their line, what does that mean for the issue I have dedicated my life to—reporting on efforts to protect LGBTQ+ people? If faced with a budget that guts transgender healthcare, bans gender-affirming care for youth, and strips funding from any organization or study that even mentions transgender people, would these same Democrats not offer the same excuse?"
Also from Erin in the Morning: Arkansas Bill Would Make “Contributing To Social Transitioning” Of Trans Youth Against The Law (March 18) "The ACLU also notes that any legal cases brought under this bill would be 'extremely unlikely to hold up in court,' calling the suits frivolous and warning that they could target anyone—from cashiers to teachers to hairdressers. 'The bill’s intent is to scare people into silence and deter them from providing respect, dignity, and care to LGBTQ youth,' they add."
5. Judge seeks sworn declaration from Justice Department in deportation case (March 17) "A federal judge Monday ordered the U.S. Justice Department to provide a sworn declaration by noon ET Tuesday with details on how planeloads of alleged members of Tren de Aragua were deported despite his order to turn the planes around."
And related to that: Trump invoking Alien Enemies Act to deport is 'a threat to everyone,' lawyer argues (March 17) "This is not normal and it's not OK."
Also from npr: Pentagon website removes, then restores, page honoring Black Medal of Honor recipient (March 17) Yeah what exactly is going on with this anti-DEI removal of web pages, etc? It's coming across like they think any time there's a person who's not a white man in a position of leadership, or receiving an award, it can't possibly be because that person is actually good at what they do- it must be because of DEI. This boggles my mind because it's just so blatantly racist/sexist- is that really the position that these MAGAs are taking? Really? I mean, I grew up hearing that we should be "colorblind" and affirmative action was bad because it gives certain groups an advantage, but we are all equal and should simply judge people on their actual merits. This "colorblindness" is its own kind of racism, but whatever's going on with this backlash to DEI is something different.