mindwanders

1. Keir Starmer calls Reform migrant policy 'racist' and 'immoral'

(tags:UK politics migration racism labour )

2. UK's first rice crop ripe for picking after hot summer

(tags:rice farming UK )

3. 'Amazing feat': US man still alive six months after pig kidney transplant

(tags:organs pigs impressive )

4. We've found Mendel's genes!

(tags:genetics history vegetables )

5. Microplastics Could Be Weakening Your Bones

(tags:plastic bone doom )

1. Reform party linked to Putin bribery

(tags:politics UK Russia viaDanielDWilliam )

2. Most US men want a return to traditional gender roles (particularly the evangelical Christians)

(tags:religion gender USA polls society )

3. Trump's NSPM-7 Labels "anti-Christian," "anti-American," and "anti-capitalism" Opinions As Terrorism "Indicators" (amongst others)

(tags:usa fascism )

4. The Dark Side of AI Companions: Emotional Manipulation

(tags:ai manipulation )

1. Ancestry and the NRS - when the corporate genealogy world turns ugly

(tags:history business Scotland )

2. Heritage Foundation Uses Bogus Stat to Push a Trans Terrorism Classification

(tags:transgender bigotry USA politics murder guns )

3. Talk Of Fascism Dangerous, Warns Ministry Of Compliance

(tags:fascism satire politics USA )

4. The Right Wants to Exterminate Trans People. "Liberals" Are Helping

(tags:transgender bigotry politics )

1. ChatGPT Is Blowing Up Marriages by Taking People's Side (I'm a little sceptical about how good these relationships were)

(tags:ai relationships doom )

2. Italy and Spain deploy ships to help Gaza aid flotilla targeted in drone attack

(tags:Italy Spain Israel aid Palestine )

3. AI 'Workslop' Is Killing Productivity and Making Workers Miserable

(tags:ai work doom )

4. Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

(tags:disease GoodNews )

Facebook reminds me that we had norovirus on this day in 2021 and 2023. Jane has spent the last 24 hours with D+V. What are the odds?

1. Canada, Australia and UK recognize Palestinian statehood (France soon)

(tags:Palestine France UK Australia Canada )

2. Among UK Jews, opposition to Palestinian political autonomy is vanishing

(tags:UK Palestine Israel )

3. Examining overlap and homogeneity in ASD, ADHD, and OCD: a data-driven, diagnosis-agnostic approach

(tags:ADHD autism psychology )

4. South Korea's President Lee says U.S. investment demands would spark a financial crisis

(tags:usa korea economics doom )

1. EU Data Act — What Businesses Need to Know (no more lock-in!)

(tags:Europe data regulation )

2. Troubles legacy: Mixed reaction to UK-Ireland deal on addressing cases

(tags:UK Ireland )

3. Visa holders on vacation have 15 hours to return to US or pay $100k fee

(tags:USA migration OhForFucksSake )

4. Goebbels Ends Careers of Five 'Aryan' Actors Who Made Witticisms About the Nazi Regime (a headline from 1939)

(tags:nazis censorship society history )

5. We have invented the vibroblade! (The World's First Ultrasonic Chef's Knife for Home Cooks)

(tags:Technology knife video )

1. Labour's plan to jumpstart city building after Rayner's 1.5m homes drive stalls

(tags:housing uk )

2. Chimps consume a pint of lager's worth of alcohol every day in fruit

(tags:alcohol chimpanzees )

3. Man with Covid for over two years became virus incubator, as it evolved into new variants of concern

(tags:pandemic virus evolution )

4. Samsung confirms its $1,800+ fridges will start showing you ads (and so I will never buy one)

(tags:advertising Samsung technology OhForFucksSake )

5. Early dropoff in girls' school sports linked to new gender confirmation forms (in Canada)

(tags:Canada girls sports school LGBT transgender bigotry )

6. Trump Spends Entire U.K. Trip Trying To Figure Out Where He Knows Prince Andrew From

(tags:politics Child_abuse satire usa uk royalty )

7. An "At The Mountains Of Madness" game, where you play as a penguin.

(tags:penguins hplovecraft games wtf )

Ooh, I thought, that's a really cool t-shirt! And the price is only £24, that's actually pretty reasonable!

Except no, it's £24 plus £6 tax plus £7 shipping *that takes up to 6 weeks*.

And this for an item that's print on demand. Which means, theoretically, they could print it in the UK in the first place and not have to presumably ship it to me by alpaca from Kazakhstan!

Shame, really, it's a nice t-shirt. But not £37 nice.

A week and a half ago I ordered a couple of K-Pop Demon Hunters hoodies for the kids from Amazon. I didn't realise quite how much of a trip they'd be making:

8th - Taken from warehouse in Shenzhen (China) and handed to massive chinese shipment company SF Express.
8th - Driven an hour up the road to Dongguan shipment centre.
11th - Transported (presumably by road) 1,100 km to Ezhou (SF Express hub airport, also China))
12th - Flown to Liège Airport (Belgium), stopping over in Almaty International Airport (Kazakhstan)
14th - Flew in to Heathrow
14th - Then arrived in Stansted for customs
15th - Then handed to Hermes in London
16th - Who got it to me in Edinburgh the next day

Total cost, including shipping: £24 (£12 per top).

I am both impressed and somewhat aghast.