So excited to have Monday for relaxing now that I've finished my poster draft.
#Autonomy
1 post1 participant0 posts today
This is what I'm working on today:
Sometimes I doubt whether anyone pays attention to my activism. Turns out you can identify when Portland Pride was in the Google trends searches for "foreskin" and "circumcision". People are paying attention! 
https://www.europesays.com/2297271/ Europe’s economic surrender – Gulf Times #AUTONOMY #comment #deal #dependency #der #Economy #EconomyOfEU #EconomyOfEuropeanUnion #EconomyOfTheEU #EconomyOfTheEuropeanUnion #EU #EUEconomy #Europe #Gulf #leyen #strategic #tariffs #Times #trade #trump #von
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I talked to Jeremy Hadall from the Satellite Applications Catapult about #robotic systems for in-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing. 
https://www.robottalk.org/2025/04/11/episode-117-jeremy-hadall/
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And I chatted to Benjamin Mottis from ANYbotics about deploying their four-legged ANYmal robot in a variety of industries.
https://www.robottalk.org/2025/03/28/episode-115-benjamin-mottis/
It busts my brain that this is not standard everywhere. But I guess I should know better. 
"New Hampshire is the first state to legally require doctors and medical staff to follow a patient's desires to seek sterilization...."
NHPR · NH is the first state to require doctors to follow patients' wishes on sterilization
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And I talked to Prof. Mini Rai from Orbit Rise Ltd about orbital and planetary #robots. 
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I chatted to Joe Wolfel from Terradepth about autonomous #submersible robots for collecting ocean data.
https://www.robottalk.org/2024/11/22/episode-99-joe-wolfel/ #Robots #Robotics #Autonomy
A key challenge for postwar Syria is building trust between the Arab majority and its historically sidelined Kurdish minority. The security regimes in Kurdish parts of Aleppo show just how slow that trust may be in coming. #syria #kurds #autonomy
Posted into WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE MIDDLE EAST? @what-s-next-for-the-middle-east-csmonitor
The Christian Science Monitor · Syria’s Kurds want autonomy. Damascus wants unity. Can they find middle ground?
Robot Talk is taking a break over the summer, so let's take a look back at Season 5!
In September, I chatted to Prof. John Leonard from Massachusetts Institute of Technology about #autonomous navigation for underwater vehicles & self-driving cars.
https://www.robottalk.org/2024/09/27/episode-91-john-leonard/
Review of "Dissident Peace: Autonomous Struggles and the State in Colombia" by Anthony Dest
An important text that paints a vivid, complex picture not from the bird’s eye view of power or media headlines, but from the trenches of struggle centered around the voices, experiences, and cosmovisions of Black and Indigenous communities in what is called Colombia.
Rigorous but accessible, Dest helps the reader make sense of everything from the 2016 Peace Accords to the 2021 Cali uprising to the 2022 election of Gustavo Petro. Broken down into four chapters, he brings to the fore those often left out of the conversation by problematizing the vanguardism of the FARC-EP, the connections between coca cultivation and settler colonialism, the living legacy of white supremacy, and the successes and setbacks of urban rebellion.
Based on relationships built over decades and a deep commitment and unapologetic analysis and reflexivity, Dest translates – literally and figuratively – the terrain of struggle for those committed to liberation and autonomy on terms distinct from either the FARC-EP or the State. The book impressively captures the dynamics at play at the intersection of capitalism, settler colonialism, whiteness, patriarchy, drug trafficking, guerrilla movements, and state repression.
It centers those excluded by power’s vision for Colombia, and demonstrates how out of, or despite, that exclusion, Black and Indigenous peoples continue to organize, propose alternatives, strengthen autonomy, and work for a dissident peace.
#Colombia #autonomy #Indigenous @bookstondon #bookstodon #books #reading
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"The autonomous [P‘urhépecha] Indigenous community of Cherán K'eri mobilized this Wednesday, July 9, in the main streets of Morelia, [Michoacán], to denounce the violence the persists in its territory and to demand justice given the neglect of state and federal authorities.
"Called for by the General Assembly, the main communal authority, the residents marched from Casa Michoacán to the state capital building to demand security, justice, and respect for their autonomy."
Somoselmedio · Cherán K’eri marcha en Morelia para exigir seguridad y justicia tras ataque armado del crimen organizadoFrente a Casa Michoacán y el Palacio de Gobierno, la comunidad autónoma purépecha de Cherán K’eri denunció la omisión del Estado ante el ataque del 2 de julio, exigió justicia para los caídos y apoyo a su modelo de autogobierno y seguridad comunitaria.
Texto y fotografías: Mario Marlo / @Mariomarlo
The autonomous Nahua community of Santa María Ostula, Michoacán, is reporting via Facebook that it has been under attack by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) since 6:40pm today. The communal guard has been activated and there are no reported injuries as of this moment.
The autonomous P‘urhépecha municipality of Cherán, Michoacán, was attacked by gunmen (according to the media linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel) on July 2. One member of the community patrol was killed and another wounded. In response, the barricades and bonfires of 2011 have gone back up and the community is on maximum alert.
https://itsgoingdown.org/armed-attack-against-the-autonomous-purepecha-community-of-cheran-keri/
It's Going Down · Armed Attack Against the Autonomous Purépecha Community of Cherán K’eriStatement from the autonomous Purépecha community of Cherán K’eri, Michoacán, following an armed attack against the community. Since the early morning of July 2, 2025, the community of Cherán K’eri has been under armed attack by unknown subjects seeking to enter the areas of Rancho del Pino and Cerrito del Aire. In response, our Community...
Especially for the #Labour administration in the UK; the Supreme Court in the UK, all the #TERF and Terf adjacent people out there, the media, especially the #Guardian.
#Rights #HumanRights #ProChoice #Autonomy #Biology #Facts
Once again, for those still quoting primary school level science:
Rebecca Helm, a biologist and an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville US writes:
"Friendly neighborhood biologist here. I see a lot of people are talking about biological sexes and gender right now. Lots of folks make biological sex sex seem really simple. Well, since it’s so simple, let’s find the biological roots, shall we? Let’s talk about sex...[a thread]
If you know a bit about biology you will probably say that biological sex is caused by chromosomes, XX and you’re female, XY and you’re male. This is “chromosomal sex” but is it “biological sex”? Well...
Turns out there is only ONE GENE on the Y chromosome that really matters to sex. It’s called the SRY gene. During human embryonic development the SRY protein turns on male-associated genes. Having an SRY gene makes you “genetically male”. But is this “biological sex”?
Sometimes that SRY gene pops off the Y chromosome and over to an X chromosome. Surprise! So now you’ve got an X with an SRY and a Y without an SRY. What does this mean?
A Y with no SRY means physically you’re female, chromosomally you’re male (XY) and genetically you’re female (no SRY). An X with an SRY means you’re physically male, chromsomally female (XX) and genetically male (SRY). But biological sex is simple! There must be another answer...
Sex-related genes ultimately turn on hormones in specifics areas on the body, and reception of those hormones by cells throughout the body. Is this the root of “biological sex”??
“Hormonal male” means you produce ‘normal’ levels of male-associated hormones. Except some percentage of females will have higher levels of ‘male’ hormones than some percentage of males. Ditto ditto ‘female’ hormones. And...
...if you’re developing, your body may not produce enough hormones for your genetic sex. Leading you to be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally non-binary, and physically non-binary. Well, except cells have something to say about this...
Maybe cells are the answer to “biological sex”?? Right?? Cells have receptors that “hear” the signal from sex hormones. But sometimes those receptors don’t work. Like a mobile phone that’s on “do not disturb’. Call and cell, they will not answer.
What does this all mean?
It means you may be genetically male or female, chromosomally male or female, hormonally male/female/non-binary, with cells that may or may not hear the male/female/non-binary call, and all this leading to a body that can be male/non-binary/female.
Try out some combinations for yourself. Notice how confusing it gets? Can you point to what the absolute cause of biological sex is? Is it fair to judge people by it?
Of course you could try appealing to the numbers. “Most people are either male or female” you say. Except that as a biologist professor I will tell you...
The reason I don’t have my students look at their own chromosome in class is because people could learn that their chromosomal sex doesn’t match their physical sex, and learning that in the middle of a 10-point assignment is JUST NOT THE TIME.
Biological sex is complicated. Before you discriminate against someone on the basis of “biological sex” & identity, ask yourself: have you seen YOUR chromosomes? Do you know the genes of the people you love? The hormones of the people you work with? The state of their cells?
Since the answer will obviously be no, please be kind, respect people’s right to tell you who they are, and remember that you don’t have all the answers. Again: biology is complicated. Kindness and respect don’t have to be.
Note: Biological classifications exist. XX, XY, XXY XXYY and all manner of variation which is why sex isn't classified as binary. You can't have a binary classification system with more than two configurations even if two of those configurations are more common than others.
Biology is a shitshow. Be kind to people."
Many thanks to Traci Drake for finding this.
Armed Attack Against the Autonomous Purépecha Community of Cherán K’eri
https://itsgoingdown.org/armed-attack-against-the-autonomous-purepecha-community-of-cheran-keri/
Hello from Rad Pride in Portland
Protecting Trans Kids Means Protecting ALL Kids
Genital Autonomy Collective
Alliana, Founder of the Genital Autonomy Collective, speaks at a pride event on the harms of Genital Cutting to Intersectional Marginalized Communities. As well as, how cis, perisex boys, and men feel alienated to intersectional theory and politics due to circumcision violating their bodily autonomy.