Interesting perspective

Clippings from news sources involving fashion freedom and other gender equality issues.
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BobM
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Interesting perspective

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crfriend
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by crfriend »

No, I am not going to give them blanket access to my hard-drives and GPS kit just to read an article so they can push even more adverts at me. I get enough of that already every damned waking minute.
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Ralph
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Ralph »

Quite interesting, indeed! Kilts were still commonplace the last time I was in the UK as a child (many, many decades ago) but recently when I asked a crossdresser friend in Scotland if he wore a kilt, he laughed and said that he didn't - nor did he know anyone who does. Nowadays, he says, the only people who buy and wear kilts are actors and tourists. Was he being serious? I have no idea. He is literally the only native-born Scot I have talked to in forever.
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Re: Interesting perspective

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crfriend wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 12:18 am No, I am not going to give them blanket access to my hard-drives and GPS kit just to read an article so they can push even more adverts at me. I get enough of that already every damned waking minute.
I know you like your old hardware, but even on a positively modern (2009) machine like mine it is very easy to live advert free. I browse with Chrome, I have installed ABP (Ad-block-pro) and FBP (Face Book Purity, which blocks the bad stuff in Facebook, not just adverts but just about everything Facebook would like to throw at us), between those two add-ons, I see no adverts, can watch YouTube without any adverts, other than the "sponsored by" messages which most videos seem to have knitted into them.Cookies as far as I know are inert blobs of data so that a website knows you have visited. I actually like not having to re-enter details everytime I visit a site and since I don't see adverts, they are welcome to do whatever targeting they want, I won't see the results. If only I could do the same on my iPad and phone! I just can't watch youtube on my phone, the moment the first advert starts at the beginning I just close the App down, before I lose my rag and hurl the phone through the nearest window. (I have had a couple of phones bounce off windows but so far the windows have survived! must be growing up, haven't hurled a phone for a few years now!)
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Big and Bashful
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Big and Bashful »

Ralph, I live in a village not too far from Helensburgh, a small coastal town West of Glasgow, which is a large city East of Helensburgh (if that helps!). When driving into Helensburgh, I would often see one mature gentleman walking on the sea front, in a kilt, just that one person. If I am going for an ale festival or a communal social drinking session, I would use that as an excuse to wear my kilt, although I often regret it because a 12 yard heavy kilt is a lot of wool, not good in warm weather or warm buildings! In central Scotland kilts mostly appear for weddings and for rugby matches, where the fans bring the kilts out in force. You do see other people wearing kilts, but only rarely. When I am travelling I will mostly wear a denim cargo skirt, they have pockets, are easier to wear and even in Scotland they attract less attention than my kilt!
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rivegauche
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by rivegauche »

I am Scottish and live near Inverness and you often see men in kilts in the city. I remember counting six separate kilt sightings one day. This would have been a low number if there had been a cultural event involving kilts but there wasn't - it was a normal day. You would usually be able to count on one sighting at least on a day in Inverness. A lot of those who wear them work in tourism, but there is a very good pub in Inverness (Hootenanny's) that caters for everyone with a strong local clientele where the staff wore kilts. Past tense - they had to give up because of the sexual harassment from women who kept lifting their kilts. This is illegal but is not regarded as depraved as men doing this to women and is unlikely to be reported to the Police, especially when the culprits are paying customers. If it's wrong, it's wrong, irrespective of gender. Apart from those in tourism, they are generally worn at weddings, especially by the groom and best man. I was at one wedding where only five of the guests were in trousers, and two of those were women. You see pipe bands in kilts, and at Highland Games (events put on for tourists) many compete in kilts. There is also a huge musical even called the National Mod, which has regional versions, and competitors wear kilts. Been there, done it. Women wear kilted skirts, and only when a choir wins a competition are these replaced with maxi kilts. When most men need a kilt for a wedding they hire it. There is a tradition of going commando under a kilt which is gross and the thought of this would put me off hiring, though for all I know wearing underwear might be a condition of the hire - if not it should be. I own my kilt but have not worn it in years as I have de-haired my legs to look better in a skirt and tights. There is a strong association with kilt-wearing and the 'cultural cringe' where modern Scots mock an artificial middle-class culture of lace jabots and English accents (or worse, effete Scottish ones) and many men would be much more ashamed of being associated with this culture than of wearing what is basically a skirt. Most modern Clan chiefs have posh English accents and the contemporary Clan stuff is regarded in Scotland as a ridiculous concept designed to cater for genealogical tourists who are only tourists because the ancestors of these very clan chiefs brutally evicted their ancestors, who ended up in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Very, very few Scots identify with a clan, though you still get some Macdonalds winding up Campbells - always now with humour, but based on an event that still induces distress - some Campbells were entertained by Macdonalds in Glencoe, and murdered some of their hosts on behalf of the British Government (grossly over-simplified). If you want a laugh, do an internet search for your clan of choice and then ask yourselves how relevant this pretentious claptrap is to modern Scots. One Army regiment (or part of one - I have lost track of their re-organisation), the Black Watch, wear kilts. The Black Watch has its origins in oppression of the people of the Highlands and there is a certain unease about the (rather beautiful) Black Watch tartan. The Clan culture is not something Scots feel part of whereas in certain circumstances a kilt can be contemplated. It is strange how a garment that was banned as a symbol of rebellion has now become associated with the oppressors. If you are Scottish, kilts are complicated. Our unease about kilts has little to do with the skirt thing. Other than formal events or tourism many modern Scots are only prepared to wear kilts informally. You might wear it with a jumper and shirt, or even with a T-shirt and trainers. Rules do not apply, and even an imitation sgian-dubh (a small dagger in the sock) is too much. It is a way we can embrace Scottishness without embracing all the cultural imperialism associated with kilts and tartanry.
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Kirbstone »

I remember visiting Edinburgh on a Graduation Day and the place was awash with young men in kilts. Again, a ceremonial occasion. One niece married a Cameron and the wedding was in Manchester, where the niece lived. Although I belonged to the bride's side I was encouraged to attend kilted up, so ever since I have a Cameron Clan Modern red kilt with all the trimmings. This gets a very occasional airing.

As Rivegauche said, a rugby match is a first-class excuse and pre-Covid Dublin and neighbouring towns would witness a proliferation of kilts when the Scots came here to invade Landsdowne Road. For pubbing, a 'leisure' or 'utility' kilt would be advised. For parties also.

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Re: Interesting perspective

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Big and Bashful wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 7:54 am
crfriend wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 12:18 am No, I am not going to give them blanket access to my hard-drives and GPS kit just to read an article so they can push even more adverts at me. I get enough of that already every damned waking minute.
I know you like your old hardware, but even on a positively modern (2009) machine like mine it is very easy to live advert free.
With me, the issue is not my love of old iron but rather my hatred for adverts.

It matters not a whit what machine I am browsing the WWW with, all get the same protection thanks to my local DNS shutting down anything I've identified as advertising-based or -enabling. The servers at assorted websites pick up on this because I also take a dim view of "cookies" and also shut down XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) cold, and so gripe that I'm denying them the "right" to push stuff at me.

Thus, a browser written in the 1980s gets precisely the same defences as those scripted a week ago.

Of the ads that do get through, I ID the sites they come from. black-hole the sites, and make a mental note to never have business with the most egregious ones. For instance, thanks to a carpet-bombing campaign on YouTube, I will never even contemplate the purchase of a Nissan automobile again in spite of having gotten good service from one for a decade.

I also speak out publicly about the worst offenders and advise folks to seek satisfaction from other providers.
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Sinned »

Carl, I just clicked on the "skip survey" and was able to see the article, which, incidentally, didn't say much.
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Big and Bashful
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Big and Bashful »

crfriend wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 11:04 pm
Big and Bashful wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 7:54 am
crfriend wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 12:18 am No, I am not going to give them blanket access to my hard-drives and GPS kit just to read an article so they can push even more adverts at me. I get enough of that already every damned waking minute.
I know you like your old hardware, but even on a positively modern (2009) machine like mine it is very easy to live advert free.
With me, the issue is not my love of old iron but rather my hatred for adverts.

It matters not a whit what machine I am browsing the WWW with, all get the same protection thanks to my local DNS shutting down anything I've identified as advertising-based or -enabling. The servers at assorted websites pick up on this because I also take a dim view of "cookies" and also shut down XSS (Cross-Site Scripting) cold, and so gripe that I'm denying them the "right" to push stuff at me.

Thus, a browser written in the 1980s gets precisely the same defences as those scripted a week ago.

Of the ads that do get through, I ID the sites they come from. black-hole the sites, and make a mental note to never have business with the most egregious ones. For instance, thanks to a carpet-bombing campaign on YouTube, I will never even contemplate the purchase of a Nissan automobile again in spite of having gotten good service from one for a decade.

I also speak out publicly about the worst offenders and advise folks to seek satisfaction from other providers.
Due probably to laziness, I just browse using Chrome, with Ad Block Pro and Fluff Busting Purity installed. as well as Norton looking after my interests. No adds to be seen. I just wish I could do the same for my IPad and IPhone, I find Facebook bearable on them but YouTube, Hell no! I allow cookies on my PC and IPad and haven't had any ill effects from them. The only annoyance I get at the moment is on the email address I use for contacting stores etc., i.e. a sacrificial account. At the moment something seems to thing I want a job and I get 5 emails a day from recruitment agencies to that account.
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Re: Interesting perspective

Post by Coder »

I use Little Snitch on my macs. It isn’t an ad-blocker per-se, rather a firewall of sorts. I set it to deny all and ask… then evaluate domains one by one - it’s quite eye opening (yeah, even for a web software developer). Usually they are named in a way the intent is obvious.
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