Quinn 🌸🏳️‍⚧️

I can't believe it's taken me until this week to switch from Spotify to Qobuz. Like many people I switched for ethical reasons but the experience is so much better!

Before switching to Qobuz, I genuinely thought my speakers were shit but it turns out that was Spotify's compression/clipping and my speakers are fine!

And I hadn't realised how much I was craving music recommendations from actual people not algorithms. Qobuz doesn't make such a big deal out of the magazine in their marketing but it's revolutionary to _read_ about music from within my streaming platform.

Also I was expecting to lose loads of my music but I haven't found anything missing yet, including (for example) a relatively obscure local band who split up before Qobuz even existed.

Etymology TIL: all uses of the word "check" (check your work, check your coat, check items off a list, check please!) and even "cheque" originate by analogy to the chess situation, which originally gets its name from the Persian "shah" meaning "king".

The chess term is from c. 1300 (although it originally referred to the game itself) and the first other use (stoppage or restraint) is from the 1510s.

Eyebrow plucking is so weird.

I can look at myself and think my entire aesthetic is off - my face looks the wrong shape, my eyes look tired, my clothes don't fit properly...

Then I pluck my eyebrows.

And suddenly all those things look right again! Like some sort of magical eyebrow spell.

Just misheard a news story and now I'm imagining a Christmas dinner with a giant bag of roast Takis as the centrepiece.

Victoria McCloud and Trans Legal Clinic are taking our case to the European Court of Human Rights and using an all-trans legal team. This is the same court that required the government to introduce the Gender Recognition Act a couple of decades ago and with the right funding there's a good chance this case will succeed (and yes, the UK is still subject to this court's jurisdiction).

I gave them some money and if you have money to spare please consider doing so too: https://www.translegalclinic.com/mccloud