Search
1000 results for “technically_good”
-
repurposing a kid's nightlight mainboard and wiring it to an #esp32 #s2mini to make a wake up clock (sync it to NTP, set an alarm time via #HomeAssistant or just a Web UI, have it light up for a set period of time when the times match)
The nightlight's battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore and I didn't feel like throwing out a perfectly good 3 LED board, so I just traced the ground and power pins and then the individual light pads, soldered some wires to them (which are labeled despite being only red or black), and now get to tweak my #Arduino alarm clock code to generate some nice RGB effects.
The thing has an infrared receiver on it as well as a vibration sensor, but I'm not in the mood right now to play with them. Technically I could turn this into a Kodi remote receiver, but that'd just be weird...
-
For the sake of our time.
Unicorn Overlord was released in March 8th and I waited a few days to get my copy for Nintendo Switch. I thought that such a cute game should be a perfect fit for the OLED screen and handheld gameplay. I wasn’t wrong and so far I only played a docked session once. The game was developed by Vanillaware and the concept phase was initiated at about the same time 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim was in production – another great game that I haven’t finished yet. It was published by Sega/Atlus and it seems that everything on the face of the Earth which bears the Atlus name is condemned to be a success.
Unicorn Overlord is a tactical rpg, but it’s not turn-based like I’m used to. It’s real-time where the actions and the order they should be taken – whom to target and in which situations – are previously set by the played into a number of units on the menu screen. Then, those units are taken into battle and the outcome takes place automatically. 13 Sentinels’ combat is a very, very simplified form of real-time strategy, but I loved it, so I had an idea about how the combat would develop in real-time. Some people mentioned Ogre Battle 64 as the predecessor of this type of combat and we can easily see the similarities between unit builds, classes, maps and interface. No matter where the inspiration is, the combat is very addictive and many late nights are a given.
This is where we can try different setups and choose each unit’s leadersUnicorn Overlord tells the story of Alain, the son of Queen Ilenia who fell to Galerius’ rebellion in Cornia. The game starts with the battle between both Ilenia and Galerius, also known as General Valmore. Queen Ilenia asked Josef to protect little Alain while the castle was under attack and Josef took Alain to an island called Palevia, raised him and trained him into a fine soldier and future ruler. Alain would later lead the Liberation Army against the established Zenoiran Empire, and with the help of the Unicorn Ring, turn the leaders siding with the Empire into their former selves. Alain soon discovered that the ring had the power to dispel a curse altering the minds of former leaders and commanders into accepting the rule of the Zenoiran Empire.
With this knowledge in hand, Alain sets to Cornia first, to expand the Liberation Army, together with Scarlett, Josef and Lex. Scarlett is then kidnapped by Galerius and Baltro and this event starts the first story arc in Cornia. Unicorn Overlord has a lot – and I mean a lot-lot – of recruitable characters. All have backstories and Alain can unlock rapport conversations with them to learn more about their personalities and motivations. It works like a social link from Persona. If they battle together, interact at the tavern or are given gifts, they increase their rapport points. After a certain amount of points a conversation can be unlocked and accessed from a stabilized region. The funnier part is that all these characters have also rapport conversations between a selected number of other characters they’ve previously met. Considering that we travel across the nations of Cornia, Elheim, Drakenhold, Bastorias and Albion imagine the number of interactions available. It’s a lot of worldbuilding and character development.
An example of a rapport conversation between Selvie and Alain. We are all beset by spirits of the dead.The game isn’t exactly an open-world but it doesn’t have the same linearity as other games where some areas are locked prior to story progression. The quests and side-quests are stage-based. One stage consists of a combat encounter and after clearing the encounter we liberate a city and access its facilities. However, in case we are so inclined we can access higher-level areas and there’s no barriers holding off the progression. If we desire to access Bastorias before clearing Drakenhold, for example, it’s possible to do it. If we manage to clear a level 30 encounter we can access Albion after clearing Elheim and before clearing Drakenhold – which is the nation we should visit after Cornia. I mean we should, but we don’t necessarily have to. The game adapts itself in case we visit a higher-level area first.
A combat encounter. This will be a win with some damage to my unit.After Cornia, I decided to visit Elheim to know more about the temples and because the Great Sage was about to give a revelation. I had no idea that I was terribly underleveled – my units, not Alain – for the area and I didn’t have many options to deal with magic. However I managed to recruit some crucial characters that helped me clear the first encounters and then everything progressed naturally. By the time I got to Drakenhold I was massively overleveled for the area, therefore Drakenhold should be the first stop after Cronia’s arc to those who worry about being overleveled. Since I don’t, I also unlocked Bastorias and met some adorable furries and then I left the area to progress the story as guided by Josef. This semi-open-world flair is extremely exciting to explore for the first time, because you know that you technically shouldn’t be in certain areas but you can, and then the rest of the game reconfigures itself to accommodate those choices.
The beautiful area of Elheim – or Elfheim – as I like to call itThe same freedom we get from the traversal does also apply to the innumerable possibilities at customizing our units. Each character has a class and each class has advantages and weaknesses against other classes. Some classes synergize better than others. All the information about classes is explained through characters in the overwold outside the forts or inside the menu. It’s a bit of a learning curve but the information is easily accessible in the library where we can find which classes work better against each other. Around the forts we often get tips about class weaknesses or natural shortcomings – for example, accuracy – and which accessories help mitigate that.
In the tactics menu we can prioritize actions according to the character’s skills and in which conditions an action is taken. I haven’t fully grasped the menu and all its possibilities, but changing the priorities and conditions of certain skill use and then seeing it in action is very satisfying. Certain weapons, shields and accessories provide the character with extra skills and it’s never a bad idea to check how the introduction of new skills affects the tactical actions the character will take in battle, meaning if those actions are given the right priority or if they’re relevant for the character in question. All classes can be promoted to its upgraded form, where the character can get new and better skills as well as a new accessory slot, or a weapon slot to dual-wield.
The tactics screen with battle conditions and categoriesThe art style is gorgeous in all its forms. The vibrating colors, the character design, the little portraits changing during dialogue, the 2.5D overworld, the landscapes and backgrounds, the food design that leaves me salivating – it’s everything. The little cutscenes are drawn in 2D, the characters are voiced and there’s dialogue boxes. The art style is very unique to Vanillaware. Even in their other games, the art plays with perspective, with light and shadow, and with character proportions. It’s dynamic even though the characters are static because some proportions, like bigger hands and feet, give a sense of movement and reach. At the same time it doesn’t look very exaggerated; it’s just right.
The stuff of nightmaresI wasn’t expecting this game specifically. When I heard about Unicorn Overlord I was expecting something less addictive, for starters, and much less complex in its mechanics. Since I’ve only played 13 Sentinels, I’ve only gotten the visual novel part of the Vanillaware experience and I thought Unicorn Overlord would be very similar, just in another setting. I haven’t been able to put the game down since I started playing. The other games I’m currently playing are on hold and even though I already have two more Vanillaware games on their way I don’t want Unicorn Overlord to end. Brilliant game!
https://swordofseiros.wordpress.com/2024/03/23/games-shouldnt-be-this-good/
#13Sentinels #2d #adventureGames #atlus #Games #gaming #jrpgs #nintendoSwitch #ogreBattle64 #rpg #sega #srpg #storyRich #strategy #tacticalRpg #unicornOverlord #videoGames #videogames #visualNovels
-
youtube.com/watch?v=EzIaIiiZIp…
#Trump #fascismThis is a breakdown of how badly fascism has been abused and probably not aware of the concept of Ur Fascism which is much more distinct and useful
I would say Umberto Eccos Ur #Fascism is probably a much better definition or term.
1. anti- #conservative : Wanting to destroy norms, decorum and institutions
2. anti- #liberal : ending basically all of the bill of rights and other liberal rights
3. anti- #communist : to the point that anything he doesn't like is a communist
4. A belief in a false past that never was, and if we just do X that glorious past will come backUr fascism is a collective group of people, not one person each with their own varying beliefs in one or more of these things with cynical hunger for power at all costs. Most wont believe in all of these things, but as you said this is all VERY #American . We have always been an ur fascist nation with people fighting to keep it in check. A fascist government is one that embodies all of these at once. The US has not seen all of these in government at all once yet, so we have not had a fascist government yet. Pinochet was technically not a fascist because he didn't use part 4. If #Trump wins we will have a fascist government. Trump is a puzzle piece of ur fascism conspiring with other pieces to create a fascist state. Fascism has always been a bunch of heartless, power hungry cynical grifters, even Mussolini who would stab any of their collaborators in the back if they thought they could get more or keep their power. Its quite probable none of the fascist leaders believed none of the ideology, just power pure raw heartless corrupt power. Extracredit has been doing one on the Nazi occult. Hitler didn't believe any of it but found it so useful to manipulate people who did, he couldn't pass it up. Just like anything Trump does.
Yeah. Asshole needs a better term, but that definition used sums up trump and his followers to a T. Its a new form of Randian #Objectivist Ur fascism that is as you said new and unique to America. It checks all the boxes listed above, But isn't remotely fascism we knew from the past, its something new and worse.
Perhaps that's a good term for asshole fascism, Objectivist or Randian Fascism -
Penn State Sets Partnership with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor for Research and Power
- Penn State Partners with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor
- Thorcon Indonesia Submits Nuclear License Application for 500MW MSR
- Canadian Government Announces Multiple Investments in Nuclear Reactors
- CEZ Takes 20% Equity Stake in Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR
- UKAEA And Italy’s Eni To Build Tritium Fuel Facility
- Kashiwazaki Kariwa 6 & 7 Startup Face New Major Delays
Penn State Partners with Westinghouse to Build an eVinci Microreactor
Penn State and Westinghouse Electric Co. are partnering to unlock the potential of the industry-leading eVinci microreactor by engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to develop a new nuclear research facility at the University Park campus.
Penn State submitted a letter of intent to the NRC on 02/28/25 which is the first step in the application process to install an eVinci microreactor at the new research facility.
The eVinci microreactor, a microreactor product of Westinghouse that uses heat pipe technology, is expected to offer a reliable and safe solution for powering the University’s research facilities and buildings across campus.
Conceptual image of an eVinci Microreactor. Image: WestinghouseWith its passive heat transfer system and its non-pressurized design, it operates like a nuclear battery, providing consistent power for more than eight years without refueling. This innovative approach reduces maintenance and enhances safety. The university has not yet selected a site for the eVinci reactor. Once is does the NRC’s regulatory requirements for site environmental assessment will come into play.
Regulatory Uncertainties Ahead
However, before any of this takes place, Westinghouse will need to submit license application to the NRC for its advanced design. While Westinghouse has been submitting pre-licensing topical reports, the NRC website, updated for the microreactor as of February 2025, does not list a calendar of proposed licensing actions or milestones including a submission date for a license application.
The agency is in the midst of developing its Part53 regulation for advanced reactors which is composed of 1,300 pages of detailed, prescriptive requirements for getting through the licensing process. A final version of the proposed rule is expected to be released by September 2026
NRC Chair Christopher Hanson said in a statement on 03/04/25 that a final rule could be issued within 12 to 18 months after the proposed rule’s publication, taking into account a public comment period. That means the first license application from any advanced reactor developer is unlikely to come in the door at the NRC’s HQ before then.
The alternative for Westinghouse is to use the current procedures under either Part50, which requires a construction license and an operating license or Part52 which combines the license application process for construction and operations. Westinghouse will have to assess which of these alternatives paths gives it the fastest time to market, and for Penn State, a schedule it can rely on to break ground and build the reactor.
HALEU Fuel Supply Schedules
The eVinci microreactor is designed to operate on TRISO fuel at 19.5% U235. While the Department of Energy has begun issuing procurements for enrichment services of HALEU fuels, the schedules for delivery remain a work in progress. The delays in ramping up the supply of HALEU have forced TerraPower to push back the start date for its 345 MWe sodium cooled advanced reactor from 2028 to 2030.
The good news for the Penn State project is that in October 2024 Westinghouse Government Services LLC was one of six firms selected by the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy for an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract to provide deconversion services for the production of enriched High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) from new domestic capacity.
The six firms will get at least $2M each for their production of HALEU. The total value of all contract awards over the 10-year period of the program is $800M. In return DOE expects the combined production of all six firms will be about 300 metric tonnes of HALEU in the form of UF6. Fuel fabrication services are not included in the contract.
Westinghouse, which has fuel fabrication plants in the US, UK, and Sweden, inked a deal with Urenco and TRISO-X in 2022 to develop TRISO fuel fabrication production at its Springfields plant in the UK. The objective is to develop a secure and reliable supply of advanced TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) fuels for use in HTGRs and other advanced reactor designs.
Officials Confident of Success
Despite the uncertainties of HALEU fuel supplies and the complexities of the licensing process, which include taking an entirely new reactor design through a new regulatory gauntlet, Penn State officials and Westinghouse executives are bullish on their prospects for success.
“Today, the University announced its intent to make Westinghouse’s eVinci microreactor a research priority,” said Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Penn State. “We believe this technology has the potential to change how we think of and use nuclear energy.
Jon Ball, president of eVinci Technologies at Westinghouse, said, “We look forward to bringing our advanced eVinci technology to the FRONTIER program to find new ways of harnessing nuclear energy, while providing students and researchers with unprecedented opportunities.”
Of interest here, according to his official biography, is that Jon Ball earned his Ph.D., in Analytical and Computational Chemistry, at Penn State in 1993. This project bring him full circle in a kind of technological homecoming.
Tonya L. Peeples, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering at Penn State added, “We intend to advance and develop the skilled workforce needed in all areas, including engineering, construction, AI, operations, project management, licensing, safety, security, supply chain and many more.”
Westinghouse Factory to Build the eVinci Reactors
In October 2023 Westinghouse Electric Company announced it is building a design and manufacturing facility near central Pittsburgh to accelerate commercialization of its eVinci microreactor. The eVinci hub in the borough of Etna, PA, will be home to engineering and licensing operations, testing, prototype trials, business development and sales.
It will also include manufacturing space for producing the innovative heat pipes that are central to the eVinci technology, as well as other components. The reactor core, which will run on TRISO fuel, is designed to run for eight or more full-power years before refueling. The eVinci design is for power outputs between 200 kWe to 5 MWe.
Westinghouse said the Etna location was chosen in part due to its proximity to Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State – New Kensington, and the University of Pittsburgh. These universities are partnering with Westinghouse on the eVinci technology.
About the eVinci Reactor
The eVinci microreactor is a compact nuclear reactor that is designed to be safe, portable, and efficient for producing electricity, especially in places where traditional power sources aren’t practical. It works like a nuclear battery that can produce energy for eight years without needing to be refueled. The eVinci microreactor is designed to produce up to 5 MWe and 15 MWt when operating at 350F (150C). This operating temperature is considerably lower than HTGRs which run at about 700C and conventional light water PWRs which run at 350-400C.
The eVinci microreactor will use 19.75% enriched tri-structural isotropic particle (TRISO) fuel. The uranium inside each TRISO particle is surrounded by three layers of inert materials that protect it and prevent the release of any radioactive fission products. TRISO fuel is characterized by its high thermal stability and resistance to corrosion and oxidation.
Full scale commercial deployment of the eVinci microreactor could begin as early as 2029 depending on obtaining an NRC license and HALEU fuel supplies. The reactor is to be fully assembled in a factory before being transported to the site, reducing construction costs and installation time. Westinghouse will soon begin to assemble a scaled down eVinci test reactor for deployment at Idaho National Laboratory.
In September 2024 Westinghouse announced it has submitted its eVinci Microreactor Preliminary Safety Design Report (PSDR) to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC). Westinghouse is the first reactor developer to reach this milestone in support of siting its test reactor at NRIC’s Demonstration of Microreactor Experiments (DOME) test bed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The eVinci microreactor weighs in at 100 metric tons and boasts a compact design measuring only 10 feet in diameter and less than 40 feet in length. Additionally, the entire eVinci microreactor site footprint is less than three acres of land which includes the safety perimeter.
Westinghouse has developed a safe process for managing spent fuel that requires no on-site handling/storage. The reactor is cooled and moved from the site to a licensed facility where spent fuel is removed and put into cask storage at a licensed location. The reactor is then transferred to a factory to be refueled for redeployment.
& & &
Thorcon Indonesia Submits Nuclear License Application for 500MW MSR
PT Thorcon Power Indonesia (PT TPI) in February reached a major milestone in its journey toward establishing Indonesia’s first Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with the official submission of its Site Evaluation Program (PET) and Site Evaluation Management System (SMET) documents to Indonesia’s Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN).
The submission, made in collaboration with PT Wiratman, was presented by Thorcon’s Chief Nuclear Officer, Kun Chen, to BAPETEN’s Deputy Chairman, Haendra Subekti, in an executive meeting held on 02/13/25 at BAPETEN’s Jakarta office.
This marks a key step forward in the regulatory process for PT TPI’s proposed Thorcon power plant, which will use the company’s advanced molten salt reactor (MSR) technology to provide low-cost, sustainable nuclear electricity for Indonesia’s future. With this submission, PT TPI officially becomes the first NPP license applicant in Indonesia’s history, positioning the country for a new era of nuclear energy innovation and development.
The PET and SMET documents, submitted through BAPETEN’s Balis application process, follow almost two years of pre-licensing consultations, which focused on safety, security, and safeguards to ensure that the plant meets Indonesia’s stringent regulatory standards.
PT TPI’s proposed plant will feature the Thorcon 500, a 500 MWe molten salt reactor power plant, comprised of two 250 MWe reactor modules. Designed for modular manufacturing, the Thorcon 500 will be installed on a floating tethered barge with shoreline grid connections.
According to the Thorcon website, PT TPI’s proposed plant is based on molten salt technology developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. It will include two low-enriched-uranium-fueled 250 MWe reactors in two replaceable, sealed ‘Cans’.
At any one time, just one of the Cans of each power module is producing thermal power. After eight years of operation, the nuclear module is disconnected, replaced with a new one, and the old one is towed to a maintenance center for Can replacement.
Thorcon has ambitions, but not a fixed timeline, to develop thorium-based fuel for the reactors. Much of the interest today in reviving the MSR concept relates to using thorium (to breed fissile uranium-233), where an initial source of fissile material such as enriched uranium is needed to kick start the reactor.
The nuclear plant’s construction will benefit from the development of a local manufacturing assembly line for Thorcon reactors, fostering the growth of a new industrial sector in Indonesia. The barge is expected to be manufactured in a South Korean shipyard.
A preliminary site survey conducted on Kelasa Island, located in Central Bangka, has identified the site as a strong candidate for the NPP. The survey focused on safety, ecological, and site suitability factors, with initial results showing promise for further studies.
BAPETEN Deputy Chairman, Haendra Subekti, expressed appreciation for PT TPI’s proactive approach to safety and security, noting that the consultations and the submission of the PET and SMET documents reflect a thorough commitment to addressing all aspects of safety, security, and safeguards.
“We recognize and appreciate the efforts of PT Thorcon Power Indonesia for their proactive consultations within the 3S (Safety, Security, Safeguards) framework,” Subekti said.
“This approach ensures that all safety and security aspects are addressed and will help minimize technical and administrative obstacles as the licensing process continues.”
According to the World Nuclear Association, the government is targeting 8 GWe of installed capacity to come from nuclear power plants in 2035, increasing to 54 GWe in 2060.
& & &
Canadian Government Announces Multiple Investments in Nuclear Reactors
(WNN) The Government of Canada is to lend AtkinsRéalis up to CAD304 million (USD212 million) over four years to support the development of next-generation Candu reactor technology, and has also announced millions of dollars in new funding commitments and support for nuclear projects in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario.
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson announced that the government had entered into a preliminary agreement with AtkinsRéalis to finance up to half of the design costs of a “new, large-scale, natural uranium-fuelled Canadium deuterium nuclear reactor (e.g. Monark)” to a maximum of CAD304 million, through a loan over four years.
This funding is to be matched by AtkinsRéalis. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), plant operators and the broader Canadian supply chain will also be included in the work to modernize the Candu design.
Wilkinson announced the Canadian government’s latest investment in CANDU technology during a visit to BWXT Tecnhologies Inc’s facility in Cambridge, Ontario
The CANDU pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR)design was developed from the 1950s onwards by federal Crown corporation AECL. It sold its reactor division to SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy subsidiary in 2011 – along with an intellectual property licensing agreement – but it still owns intellectual property rights for the technology. AtkinsRéalis is the original equipment manufacturer of CANDU technology (SNC-Lavalin Group Inc rebranded to AtkinsRéalis in 2023).
AtkinsRéalis unveiled its plans in November 2023 for the 1000 MW Candu Monark, a Generation III+ reactor with the highest output of any CANDU technology. It completed the conceptual design phase in September 2024, and is in the planning stage of a vendor design review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. Previous Canadian CANDU designs came in at 700 MW.
Globally, India is building a fleet of 10 CANDU type reactors at 700M each. Romania recently committed to completing two 700 MW PHWR type reactors at its Cernavoda site. There are over two dozen CANDU reactors currently operating in seven countries.
Wilkinson noted that, with their “almost entirely Canadian-made, Canadian-designed supply chain”, they provide “good-paying, long-lasting, and sustainable jobs in manufacturing for Canadians” as well as being fueled by uranium mined in Saskatchewan.
SMR collaborations
Wilkinson also announced further funding for nuclear projects under Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Future Electricity Fund, on behalf of Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, plus a total of CAD52.4 million for various projects supporting the development and deployment of SMRs and Candu reactors and decarbonization efforts in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario under two Natural Resources Canada programs.The Future Electricity Fund mainly consists of proceeds collected from electricity-generating facilities which are being returned through funding agreements with provincial or territorial governments for which the federal carbon pollution pricing system for industry currently applies, or has applied in the past, to support clean electricity initiatives.
CAD55 million from the fund has been awarded to Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to support pre-development work for the Darlington New Nuclear Project, where the company plans to build up to four GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMRs. Specifically, these funds are to be used for planning, site preparation, various procurements and regulatory approvals for units 2, 3 and 4 at the site. OPG signed a commercial contract for the first of the four SMR units in January 2023.
He also announced an increase to Future Electricity Fund program funding to the Saskatchewan Government’s Crown Investments Corporation by CAD54 million to CAD80 million, to support of SMR pre-development work by SaskPower. The funding will support pre-engineering work and technical studies, environmental assessments, regulatory studies and community and Indigenous engagement. SaskPower has identified several potential sites for SMRs.
Three projects will receive a total of CAD11.4 million under Natural Resources Canada’s Enabling SMRs program:
The University of Western Ontario is to receive nearly CAD5 million to conduct a detailed study of TRISO-based used fuel properties and characteristics.
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories will receive just over CAD3.5 million for a project on developing guidelines, strategies and standards for SMR deployment to support the Canadian nuclear industry.
The Saskatchewan Industrial and Mining Suppliers Association will receive CAD2.8 million for a project to evaluate the capabilities of the existing supply chain in Saskatchewan to support SMRs.
Under Natural Resources Canada’s Electricity Predevelopment Program, four projects in Alberta will receive funding totaling CAD41 million, including CAD13 million to develop an assessment of the potential suitability of three locations in Alberta as potential host locations for SMR deployment and increase public and Indigenous community understanding and awareness of SMRs and nuclear power generation.
& & &
CEZ Takes 20% Equity Stake in Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR
CEZ Group, the Czech Republic’s state-owed nuclear utility, has become a significant shareholder of Rolls-Royce SMR, acquiring a stake of approximately one-fifth of the company. This strategic partnership aims to advance the development of small modular nuclear reactors.
The first Rolls-Royce 470 MW PWR reactor in the Czech Republic is planned for the Temelín nuclear power plant in the early 2030s. This collaboration, initiated last October, involves CEZ in both development of the 1st and future reactors and global production for export, going beyond mere procurement.
The Rolls-Royce SMR design is a pressurized water reactor incorporating both active and passive safety systems, with an electrical output of 470 MW and an expected operational lifespan of at least 60 years.
CEZ aims to build small modular reactors totaling about 3 GWe (six RR PWRs) by 2050, primarily for electrical power and process heat supply (steam for domestic heat) at various locations. These modular reactors can be mass-produced and assembled on-site. CEZ also plans to use the production facilities to be built in the Czech Republic to drive opportunities for exports of the Rolls-Royce PWR to global markets.
UK Falling Behind in Europe’s Race to Build SMRs
Separately, Rolls-Royce has raised concerns with the current UK government about the slow pace of decision making relate to the GBN SMR Competition. Rolls-Royce pointedly warned Whitehall that it risks seeing the first SMRs built in the EU.
Industry angst over bureaucratic dithering extends to other firms in the mix. X-Energy has threatened to remove itself not only from the competition but also entirely from the UK market if funding decisions now slated for 2029 are not significantly moved up.
In both cases the UK could lose substantial opportunities for new jobs and related economic development as other countries strike while the iron is hot.
& & &
UKAEA And Italy’s Eni To Build Tritium Fuel Facility
- Plant in central England vital to deployment of future nuclear plants
(NucNet) The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and Italy-based energy company Eni have signed an agreement to jointly conduct research and development in fusion energy, starting with the construction of the world’s largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility. Once built it will produce a fuel for future fusion power stations. UKAEA said the new “world-class” facility is designed to provide industry and academia the opportunity to study how to process, store and recycle tritium.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that occurs naturally in the atmosphere and is also a byproduct of nuclear reactors. It is a potential fuel for future fusion power plants.
UKAEA, the UK’s national organization responsible for the research and delivery of fusion energy, said the UKAEA-Eni H3AT (pronounced “heat”) tritium loop facility will be bult at its Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, central England, and will be complete in 2028.
UKAEA chief executive officer Sir Ian Chapman said the H3AT demonstration plant will set a new benchmark as the largest and most advanced tritium fuel cycle facility in the world.
UKAEA said tritium recovery and re-use will play a fundamental role in the supply and generation of the fuel in future fusion power plants and will be crucial in making the technology increasingly efficient.
UKAEA and Eni will collaborate to develop advanced technological solutions in fusion energy and related technologies, including skills transfer initiatives. Eni will contribute to the H3AT project with its expertise in managing and developing large-scale projects.
& & &
First Light Announces Shift In Strategy To Capitalize On Growing Market For Inertial Fusion
- UK company no longer plans to build its own nuclear power plant
(NucNet) UK-based nuclear fusion company First Light Fusion is shifting its strategy to capitalize on what it says are huge opportunities in the market for inertial fusion energy. First Light said in a statement that with a renewed strategy and business model, it will provide its unique amplifier technology to the fast-growing global inertial fusion energy industry. The company, whose headquarters are in Oxford, central England, said the move will enable it to generate earlier revenues and lower its long-term funding requirement.
Under the new strategy, First Light plans to enter into commercial partnerships with other inertial fusion energy companies and schemes where its amplifier technology can form a critical and complementary part of a commercial fusion power plant. This replaces previous plans to build its own power plant based on a projectile fusion approach.
First Light Fusion’s amplifier technology increases the efficacy of the fusion reaction by both boosting and converging the pressure of the projectile that is used to impact the fuel. This approach means that instead of using complex and expensive lasers or magnets to generate or maintain the conditions for fusion, a fuel “target” is compressed using a projectile travelling at tremendous speed.
& & &
Kashiwazaki Kariwa 6 & 7 Startup Face New Major Delays
According to a report by the Japan Industrial Forum on 02/27/25 the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) announced a significant revision to the construction schedule for emergency response buildings at Units 6 and 7 of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa Nuclear Power Plants, located in Niigata Prefecture. The buildings are permanent backup facilities to be used in the event of an intentional aircraft strike or terrorist attack and referred to as “specified safety facilities.
Under the revised schedule, the facilities for Unit 6 will be completed five years later than originally scheduled—in September 2031 rather than in September 2026 while those for Unit 7 will be completed around four and half years later than originally planned, in September 2029 rather than in March 2025.
TEPCO did not indicate a schedule for restart of units 1-5 or whether it ever intends to restart these BWRs which are older than units 6 & 7. TEPCO has not submitted them to the Japanese government’s independent Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) for restart safety evaluations.
In terms of the total Japanese nuclear fleet, 14 reactors have restarted, 3 more have completed the NRA review, and 10 more are under review and expected to be approved. By the end of this decade, Japan could have 27 operating reactors. Prior to the Fukushima accident in 2011, Japan had 54 operating reactors.
At a press conference held on the same day, Takeyuki Inagaki, the site director of Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs, explained that it was difficult to predict the completion timeline for the facilities as it was an unprecedented and highly large-scale construction project.
He also pointed out such challenges as the volume of construction work and labor shortages, while emphasizing that the work would continue, with safety as the top priority, ensuring steady progress step by step.
The emergency response buildings are a regulatory requirement under Japan’s new nuclear safety standards. They will serve as backup systems to prevent reactor containment vessel damage in case of large-scale destruction caused by an intentional aircraft collision or similar attacks, rendering a wide range of equipment unusable.
Inagaki stated that Unit 7 is technically ready for operation since it has met the new regulatory standards for severe accident response facilities and passed the review by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). However, he also stressed the importance of thorough functional testing and safety verification during the upcoming trial operation.
Inagaki further emphasized the critical role of nuclear power in ensuring a stable electricity supply for the country, stating, “Japan’s balance of electricity supply and demand—which remains tight throughout the year— is particularly severe during the period of summer peak demand. That is especially true in eastern Japan, where most nuclear power plants (NPPs) remain offline, with only a limited number in operation.”
Regarding the restart of the Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs, he reaffirmed TEPCO’s commitment to engaging with the local community, stating, “Restarting operations will only be possible with the understanding of local residents. We will continue to make every effort to provide thorough explanations to gain their support.”
Currently, the decision of the governor of Niigata Prefecture regarding the restart of Kashiwazaki Kariwa NPPs remains a key issue. The prefectural technical committee has submitted a report to the governor, stating that there are no major concerns regarding most of the 22 verification points related to disaster prevention measures following the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident of March 2011. A hearing with relevant administrative bodies by the Niigata Prefectural Assembly is expected to take place in March.
# # #
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
CW: Updated helpful tips for supportive parents, guardians, family members, friends of trans kids in the UK, as well as trans-supportive medical professionals and organisations, in light of the extension of the ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers and closing the NI loophole (boosts welcome :BoostsOKPrideSymbol:) (updated re: further extension) (updated again re: indefinite ban)
(Please note that we've¹ defaulted to the British English spellings of oestrogen and oestradiol instead of estrogen and estradiol, as this issue affects those in the UK. In general, we use and prefer the versions without the leading, silent O.Also, GnRH means gonadotropin-releasing hormone. You'll see us writing it a lot followed by "analogue", "agonist" or "antagonist". Those are all types of "puberty blockers".
Lastly, GAHT means gender-affirming hormone therapy. We prefer using this to HRT -- hormone replacement therapy -- which is a broader term.)
Original puberty blockers ban
Back on 2024-05-31, we wrote a post in response to the transphobic emergency restrictions for new prescriptions of puberty blockers to trans youth by the then health minister.
Our original post explaining that in more detail can be found here, but we have now unpinned it and replaced it with this post to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date info.
New government hopes dashed
It was hoped that the new government would not extend the ban, but as soon as they announced Wes "Weasel" Streeting (a highly vocal transphobe and self-loathing gay man) as the new Health Secretary, he pretty much immediately announced his intention to extend the temporary ban, with an aim to making it permanent.
Per this post by TransActual, it's not like Weasel and his advisors weren't made aware of all the negative impacts an extension would have, as "he was told about it when meeting with the representatives of LGBTQ+ organisations".
Even more darkly-farcical is that the justification Weasel used for continuing the targeted medical discrimination against trans youth is that it's being done "to avoid serious danger to health", which is not only contrary to the information provided by those LGBTQ+ organisations, but completely contrary to:
- increasing international condemnation of the Cass Review, which was the primary justification for the order;
- all valid scientific studies over decades, which were excluded by the Cass Review because they weren't "double blinded controlled studies" (which is medically unethical);
- even the frickin' BMA criticising and planning to review the Cass Review.
It's not that Weasel doesn't understand this: it's that he either doesn't care or actively wants to hurt trans youth by making it as difficult as possible for them to medically transition :PleadingFace: 😞
The temporary ban extension explained
The news page on on the government is coldly entitled Puberty blockers temporary ban extended, as if it's no big deal. It links to the original ban and to the new-and-worsened "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (Extension) Order 2024" that's replacing it.
This order extends the duration of the original ban until 2024-11-26, but also increases its scope. The original order did not apply to Northern Ireland and allowed EU professionals to prescribe. This small loophole gave a glimmer of hope for supportive parents of trans youth, who could essentially:
- Get a prescription via a private online gender service from an EU medical professional.
- Travel to Northern Ireland to pick up the prescription.
- Travel back home to use it to support their trans kid.
The government clearly discovered this, as the new order has 2 very clear statements on the news page:
It also prevents the sale and supply of the medicines from prescribers registered in the European Economic Area or Switzerland for any purposes to those under 18.
The government has also extended the order to cover Northern Ireland, following agreement from the Northern Ireland Executive, to come into effect from 27 August 2024.
Temporary ban extension number 2 😞
On 6th November 2024, a 2nd extension to the temporary ban was created, which will come into force on 27th November 2024 and last until the end of 31st December 2024.
Fortunately, it was only a time extension: not an expansion of the meds being blocked.
Indefinite ban
We bleeping hate this country. On 11th December 2024, an indefinite ban was imposed by the scumbags in power, under the false guise of safety. This will come into force from 1st January 2025 :FaceExhaling:
And now for the good news 🥰
GnRH antagonists
Weasel isn't as smart as he thinks he is. Under Article 2, they've continued to define GnRH analogues as:
a medicinal product that consists of or contains buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, leuprorelin acetate, nafarelin or triptorelin
It's been this way since the original temporary ban was introduced by the previous government and nobody has updated the wording.
Whilst technically calling them analogues isn't incorrect, all of the medications listed above are actually more-specifically GnRH agonists.
Just like the original order, they've ignored GnRH antagonists, as these don't tend to be typically prescribed for trans+ GAHT, despite being just as safe and effective, with the same low-risk profile.
GnRH agonists and antagonists are both types of GnRH analogues. It's just that, for some reason, the agonists tend to be prescribed rather than the antagonists.
The wiki page on GnRH antagonists even specifically states in the Other uses section:
GnRH antagonists could be used as puberty blockers in transgender youth and to suppress sex hormone levels in transgender adolescents and adults, but have not been studied in this context.
We've checked through the list of GnRH antagonists listed on NICE ("National Institute for Health and Care Excellence") as being able to be prescribed, and the following ones could be legally prescribed by any willing UK medical professional without infringing on the order:
- Cetrorelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Degarelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Ganirelix (Wiki) (NICE) (EMC)
- Relugolix (Wiki) (NICE) (No EMC page, but NICE has some details here)
The drugs would be being used off-label, but so are all the existing meds for trans people anyway! There are no officially-licensed medications for trans people in the UK. It's all outside of their prescription guidelines.
We actually had to sign 2 consent forms to request feminising GAHT (aka feminising hormone therapy), 1 of which genuinely reads:
I confirm I understand feminising hormones are not licenced for the treatment of Gender lncongruence; however, I am happy to receive this treatment.
That's not an outdated form either. It's what we had to return to the East of England Gender Service (EOEGS) in May 2024.
Elagolix appears to be starting to be used at 150 mg daily or 200 mg twice daily, but does not appear to be approved for use by NICE.
Alternatives to puberty blockers
Whilst puberty blockers are considered the gold standard:
- They were mainly offered in place of gender-affirming hormone therapy in order to delay the medical transition of trans kids, in the hopes that they could be "persuaded" that they're not actually trans (i.e., conversion therapy).
- Other alternatives to these do exist and are commonly available.
Anti-androgens (steroidal and non-steroidal)
For those who want to block testosterone, the other options are broadly steroidal anti-androgens or non-steroidal anti-androgens. They're typically grouped together under anti-androgens.
Of these, the prescribable options are:
Why no mention of 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors like finasteride or dutasteride? Because all they do is reduce the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). They're technically considered anti-androgens, but both have some pretty common side effects, haven't been shown to be effective for trans healthcare, and interact badly with micronised progesterone.
Spironolactone
Spironolactone has tonnes of common, negative side effects and is a weak anti-androgen at best. The fact that it's still even prescribed to trans people to block testosterone is probably solely because it's cheap. Even its Wiki page states:
Its use continues despite the rise of various accessible alternatives such as bicalutamide and cyproterone acetate with more precise action and less side effects.
Cyproterone acetate
Cyproterone acetate, even at low daily doses (6.25-12.5 mg), isn't particular great either. It's a progestin (a synthetic progestogen), has a fair number of common side effects, and can cause liver issues. It can even cause depression and negatively impact breast development if taken from the start of feminising GAHT.
The only safe progestogen for feminising GAHT is bioidentical micronised progesterone, and only after at least 6 months and having reached stage 3 on the Tanner Scale. It's best to avoid progestins at all costs, due to their inherent risks.
Bicalutamide
Now we come to the oft-overlooked and demonised bicalutamide, even though one of its key uses, as listed on its wiki page, is:
as a puberty blocker and component of feminizing hormone therapy for transgender girls and women
Bicalutamide is a first-generation non-steroidal anti-androgen and works in a different way to other anti-androgens. It actually increases testosterone production slightly, but then converts the excess into oestradiol (E2) and blocks androgen receptors. It's kind of an invisible blocker, as any blood tests will show a higher testosterone level, but androgenic effects will stop, due to the blocked receptors.
Its common side-effects are actually positive effects for many seeking feminisation (e.g., breast growth; decreased libido; reduced body hair growth) alongside blocking androgen receptors. This is, however, worth taking into consideration for someone who may want to block androgenic effects, but not particularly feminise, as this would not be best for them.
Bicalutamide does have a common chance of raising liver enzymes, so it's absolutely vital to monitor closely and get regular liver function blood tests.
Why vital? Because seeing elevated liver enzymes is an indicator of liver cells breaking down at an unusual rate, which can be an early warning sign of liver toxicity (toxic hepatitis). Further tests can then be run to confirm.
The liver is very capable organ in terms of recovery and regeneration, so stopping bicalutamide early if further tests are positive for liver toxicity will stop further damage and increase the likelihood of the liver repairing any slight damage caused.
And now we come to the reason why it's not more-commonly used: there have been 10 published case reports of liver toxicity reported to the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) in the USA, from which there were 2 deaths. As far as we can tell from reading the links into this, none of these were trans people (of any age) taking a low daily dose of 25-50 mg.
In other words, the fear of bicalutamide is disproportionate to the actual real-world risk, especially for trans patients taking low doses.
This is what the bicalutamide comparison section has to say:
The side effect profile of bicalutamide in men and women differs from that of other antiandrogens and is considered favorable in comparison....Relative to GnRH analogues and the steroidal antiandrogen (SAA) cyproterone acetate (CPA), bicalutamide monotherapy has a much lower incidence and severity of hot flashes and sexual dysfunction.... In addition, unlike GnRH analogues and CPA, bicalutamide monotherapy is not associated with decreased bone mineral density or osteoporosis.
Bicalutamide is the best alternative for most, but not all, trans youths wishing to block testosterone and achieve some bonus feminisation before being prescribed oestradiol. It has a lower risk profile overall than cyproterone acetate, but due to extremely rare risks of liver toxicity and lung diseases, many medical practitioners won't prescribe it 😞
Second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens
There are some promising second generation non-steroidal anti-androgens which may both be more effective and have an even lower risk profile than bicalutamide. These are:
Of these, enzalutamide appears to be beginning to be used as part of feminising GAHT, at a dose of 160 mg daily, and the drug is approved by NICE at this dose.
Apalutamide has been approved by NICE at a dose of 240 mg daily.
Darolutamide, the newest of the meds, has been approved at a higher dose of 600 mg twice daily.
Each of these has its own risks and side effects that should be reviewed and taken into account. Enzalutamide purportedly "shows no risk of elevated liver enzymes or hepatotoxicity", but both it and apalutamide list a low possible risk of seizures.
Anti-oestrogens
There are anti-oestrogens, particularly SERMs, but they typically have a lot of side effects and risks. As a rule, most don't come highly recommended.
We wish we could be more positive about them here, but we wouldn't recommend any of them for anyone wishing to block oestrogen production or an oestrogenic puberty.
Look to the GnRH antagonists that aren't blocked (like relugolix), or consider the option below.
Monotherapy
It's very notable that the extended ban still does not ban any oestradiol (oestrogen) or testosterone prescriptions.
This means that there is still nothing to stop supportive parents from helping their trans kids to get a private prescription for oestradiol or testosterone.
Furthermore, due to the way human bodies work, if you maintain a high-enough trough (lowest) level of either oestradiol or testosterone, the body will basically tell the gonads to stop producing that hormones.
This is due to the HPG axis, which works by negative feedback.
For people with testes taking feminising GAHT, sufficient estradiol indirectly puts testes into sleep mode.
For people with ovaries taking masculinising GAHT (aka masculinising hormone therapy), sufficient testosterone likewise puts ovaries into sleep mode.
For those taking testosterone, please do be careful not go above recommend peaks, as otherwise testosterone aromatisation will kick in and convert the excess into estradiol.
Aromatase is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum where it is regulated by tissue-specific promoters that are in turn controlled by hormones, cytokines, and other factors. It catalyzes the last steps of estrogen biosynthesis from androgens (specifically, it transforms androstenedione to estrone and testosterone to estradiol).
Please note that DHT (dihydrotestosterone) (aka androstanolone) -- a powerful androgen synthesised irreversibly from testosterone -- is not aromatised into any forms of oestrogen. Whilst not widely available, it can be used as an alternative to testosterone for masculinising GAHT.
Level ranges for monotherapy
Please note that the figures quoted below are the typical figures for trans adults. Even WPATH SOC8 seems to have no defined ranges for trans youth, just same vague dosage suggestions adapted from the Endocrine Society Guidelines under "Appendix C GENDER-AFFIRMING HORMONAL TREATMENTS" within "Table 3".
Feminising GAHT
For feminising GAHT in adults, monotherapy typically requires maintaining an oestradiol trough of ~734 pmol/L (200 pg/mL). It varies from person to person, so some folks might need as little as ~367 pmol/L (100 pg/mL) or as high as ~918 pmol/L (250 pg/mL).
You'll know if their oestradiol trough is sufficient if their testosterone level is <=2.4 nmol/L, though <=3 nmol/L is often still considered to be within the high-end of normal range. Please note that the target range varies wildly, with ranges such as 30-100 ng/dL (~1.04 to ~3.47 nmol/L) and <50 ng/dL (~1.73 nmol/L).
(On a sports tangent, the flawed Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) arbitrarily assigned a maximum testosterone level of 2 nmol/L in 2019 in relation to Caster Semenya. Please note that Semenya took CAS to the ECtHR over their regulations and won in July 2025.)
Please note that there's a lot of scaremongering over oestradiol level. The NHS typically demands you be within 400 to 600 pmol/L... despite the fact that the NHS considers normal, safe ranges during menstruation to be:
- Mid-luteal: 180 to 1068 pmol/L
- Peri-ovulatory: 349 to 1590 pmol/L
Broadly-speaking, an oestradiol range that is considered safe in the long-term for monotherapy is 200 to 400 pg/mL (~734 to ~1469 pmol/L). If you wish to be more cautious, then you could aim for 200 to 300 pg/mL (~734 to ~1101 pmol/L).
Masculinising GAHT
For masculinising GAHT in adults, the targets vary and keep changing.
On the previous 2024 version of Tavistock and Portman guidance ("Treatment of Gender Dysphoria in Trans masculine People v12.4.1"), the levels were listed as follows when using the prescription testosterone medication Sustanon 250 mg/mL every 2-4 weeks:
- a rather-low testosterone trough of ~10-12 nmol/L "on the day of the injection just before it is administered";
- a peak of ~25-30 nmol/L "one week after the injection".
The latest version of guidance we've found is Treatment of Gender Incongruence in Transgender men, Transmasculine and Non-
binary People (Assigned Female at Birth) v13.1 from April 2025. If anything, it's even shittier now, aiming for a trough range of 8-12 nmol/L!!!The aim of therapy is to achieve trough testosterone levels at the bottom
of the normal male range (8-12 nmol/l) on the day of the injection, just
before it is administered, and to achieve peak testosterone levels in the
high normal male range but less than 30 nmol/l one week after the
injection.For context, international guidance is 300 to 1,000 ng/dL (~10.4 nmol/L to ~34.7 nmol/L).
The NHS trough aim allows for a narrow testosterone range that is right at the very low end of tolerability and actually goes below it. Please note that low testosterone levels are associated with low mood and low energy.
In relation to arbitrarily taking a blood test 1 week after administration, please note that Sustanon 250 tends to peak within a few days, then steadily falls. (Put something like "sustanon 250 level curve" into your preferred search engine and look for image graphs: you'll soon see what we mean.) It's just nonsense endocrinology!
For Nebido 1000 mg (4 mL), the testosterone trough range is 10 to 15 nmol/L, which is low, but not as ridiculously bad as the guidance for Sustanon 250.
With testosterone gel (testogel), the guidance is very odd. They aim for a target range of 15 to 20 nmol/L, which is fairly decent... but they want this to be tested 4 to 6 hours after application, rather than at trough... which kind of makes their guidance dumb AF.
To give you a real-world comparison, our testosterone level before starting feminising GAHT was ~18.6 nmol/L in our late 30s. Given that our voice had broken at age 10 and fully dropped by age 11, we are fairly sure our testosterone level was much higher than 18.6 nmol/L back then!
You'll typically know if your kid's testosterone trough is sufficient if their oestradiol level is under 150 pmol/L, though some folks may be up to around 180 pmol/L.
Benefits of monotherapy
Monotherapy completely avoids the need for any kind of puberty blocker, anti-androgen, or anti-oestrogen.
It also has the delightful side-effect of making your trans kid happy to be starting the puberty that they want to go through sooner, thus alleviating their feelings of gender dysphoria and allowing them to enjoy their lives, rather than continuing to wait on non-existent NHS healthcare.
With feminising GAHT, monotherapy is most easily achieved by a daily high-dose of oestradiol in the form of oestrogel (oestrogen gel) typically applied to the thighs or abdomen, but could in theory be achieved by sufficient patches applied twice weekly. Transdermal methods can benefit from being applied on the upper buttocks, but this will not be convenient or comfortable for everyone. Injections are sadly not available on prescription, and implants will be very, very expensive and only privately prescribed.
For masculinising GAHT, monotherapy can be easily achieved by daily application of testosterone gel or cream, but is more easily achieved by testosterone injections (Nebido or Sustanon). However, the injection recommendations are all for adults, so these may be harder to adjust.
Blood tests
These can be done privately, completely avoiding the need for the NHS.
You can find more information here:
- https://web.archive.org/web/20250416012633/https://genderkit.org.uk/resources/blood-testing/
- https://transactual.org.uk/medical-transition/hormone-therapy/
Where can we find more information about gender-affirming care by experts who actually want to help trans kids?
Although far from perfect, arguably the best sources currently are:
We've already written up a shorter post with links to other resources here.
What if I'm still confused about all this?
Ask for help. We're all in this together. Some of us know a lot about how broken trans healthcare is on the NHS right now, not just for trans kids but for trans adults too.
The key thing to remember is that you are never alone. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help from the community :TransHeart: :HeartHands:
Here is a non-exhaustive list of organisations who may be able to offer you some immediate support:
You can find more info resources and support on this Gender Construction Kit page.
And here are some other websites / people you may want to look up:
- Trans Kids Deserve Better
- Trans Kids Deserve To Grow Up
- Dee Whitnell (Founder of TransKidsDeservetoGrowUp)
- Queer AF
- Nancy Kelley (Executive Director of DIVA Magazine) and big supporter of trans youth
- Anne (aka Anne Health Limited), which has a helpline and offers trans+ gender-affirming healthcare
Edits: Apologies for all the typos. We're trying to gradually get rid of them all 😅 Further apologies for the minor formatting edits as we notice issues.
Edits 2025-08-19:
- Added additional details for why we cyproterone acetate isn't recommended, including details from Wiki Trans (French resource).
- Added a link to a later post we've made to other resources.
- Updated some masculinising info based on most-recent NHS guidelines, mostly to show how dumb the guidance is.
- Fixed at least one dead link.
- Added in a note about switching terminology to GAHT.
- Added a note at the end about our plurality.
#TransKidsMatter #TransYouthAreLoved #TransKidsDeserveToGrowUp #TransKidsDeserveToThrive #TransKids #ProtectTransKids #trans #transgender #enby #NonBinary #agender #genderfluid #genderqueer #transition #TransLiberationNow #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #queer #LGBTQ+ #LGBTQIA+ #PubertyBlockers #GnRHAgonists #GnRHAntagonists #GnRHAnalogues #AntiAndrogens #AntiEstrogens #AntiOestrogens #SERM #spironolactone #CyproteroneAcetate #bicalutamide
¹ We're plural (median, blurian)
-
#LearnLockpickingWithAlice lesson 11: Shimming shit ('cause ain't nobody got time for dial locks).
Plenty of old or cheap locks can be shimmed, but the place this technique shines most is with those front-dial combination locks. Sure, you can look up the model number, find some arcane YouTube video, and spend 30 minutes decoding it (both the video *and* the lock)...
...or you can do a little shimming fuckery and have it open in seconds.
To shim a lock, you'll need two things: a shimmable lock, and something to shim it with.
So how do I tell if a lock is able to be shimmed? Well, there are three main types of locking mechanisms on padlocks: ballbearing, spring-loaded, and warded (which you can see an example of in lesson 10). We want the spring-loaded kind.
The easy way to tell the spring-loaded ones from the ballbearing is that the cutouts in the shackle will look like either an upside-down "7" or a "]" for the pawl, instead of a ")" which indicates a ball-bearing lock. This matters because if the only thing keeping the locking pawl (that little metal bit that grabs the shackle's cutout) in place is a stiff spring, then the only thing between us and opening the lock is reaching it.
How do we reach that pawl? With a little piece of metal called a padlock shim. They look like a little mouth with a blep 👅 at the bottom—and like A Christmas Story, we want to get it right up against that pole.
How to shim a padlock:
- Insert the shim with the tongue facing away from the mechanism (toward the outside).
- Pinch the wings so it hugs the shackle.
- Push it down as far as it will go.
- Rotate/work it toward the inside of the lock while keeping pressure on it.
- Wiggle and press down on the shackle a bit to help it slide in.Once it’s in:
- Hold the shim in place.
- Give the shackle a firm yank—and probably send your shim flying."Wtf, Alice, it didn't work?! How could you lie to me?"
Okay, slow down. There are a few reasons for that.
First, the mechanism might be on the other side of the shackle—or even on both sides.
If it's still not working, the shim either isn’t deep enough, isn’t long enough, or the lock isn’t spring-loaded.
Additionally, some locks are *technically* shimmable, but the clearance around the shackle is too narrow to fit a shim in. In this case, a thinner shim, or a narrow pokey piece of metal might still work.
Finally, this lesson wouldn't be complete without mentioning that padlock shims are a disposable resource. They *will* break—sometimes after only a couple uses. If you're lucky, they'll last for dozens of attempts though.
Which leads me to my friend, @deviantollam, who is well-known for making shims out of soda or beer cans. These shims are fragile, but they'll work in a pinch and only take a moment to make. If you're good, you can even tear a can into a close enough shape for the job—just be careful, those fuckers are *sharp*.
-
#LearnLockpickingWithAlice lesson 11: Shimming shit ('cause ain't nobody got time for dial locks).
Plenty of old or cheap locks can be shimmed, but the place this technique shines most is with those front-dial combination locks. Sure, you can look up the model number, find some arcane YouTube video, and spend 30 minutes decoding it (both the video *and* the lock)...
...or you can do a little shimming fuckery and have it open in seconds.
To shim a lock, you'll need two things: a shimmable lock, and something to shim it with.
So how do I tell if a lock is able to be shimmed? Well, there are three main types of locking mechanisms on padlocks: ballbearing, spring-loaded, and warded (which you can see an example of in lesson 10). We want the spring-loaded kind.
The easy way to tell the spring-loaded ones from the ballbearing is that the cutouts in the shackle will look like either an upside-down "7" or a "]" for the pawl, instead of a ")" which indicates a ball-bearing lock. This matters because if the only thing keeping the locking pawl (that little metal bit that grabs the shackle's cutout) in place is a stiff spring, then the only thing between us and opening the lock is reaching it.
How do we reach that pawl? With a little piece of metal called a padlock shim. They look like a little mouth with a blep 👅 at the bottom—and like A Christmas Story, we want to get it right up against that pole.
How to shim a padlock:
- Insert the shim with the tongue facing away from the mechanism (toward the outside).
- Pinch the wings so it hugs the shackle.
- Push it down as far as it will go.
- Rotate/work it toward the inside of the lock while keeping pressure on it.
- Wiggle and press down on the shackle a bit to help it slide in.Once it’s in:
- Hold the shim in place.
- Give the shackle a firm yank—and probably send your shim flying."Wtf, Alice, it didn't work?! How could you lie to me?"
Okay, slow down. There are a few reasons for that.
First, the mechanism might be on the other side of the shackle—or even on both sides.
If it's still not working, the shim either isn’t deep enough, isn’t long enough, or the lock isn’t spring-loaded.
Additionally, some locks are *technically* shimmable, but the clearance around the shackle is too narrow to fit a shim in. In this case, a thinner shim, or a narrow pokey piece of metal might still work.
Finally, this lesson wouldn't be complete without mentioning that padlock shims are a disposable resource. They *will* break—sometimes after only a couple uses. If you're lucky, they'll last for dozens of attempts though.
Which leads me to my friend, @deviantollam, who is well-known for making shims out of soda or beer cans. These shims are fragile, but they'll work in a pinch and only take a moment to make. If you're good, you can even tear a can into a close enough shape for the job—just be careful, those fuckers are *sharp*.
-
#LearnLockpickingWithAlice lesson 11: Shimming shit ('cause ain't nobody got time for dial locks).
Plenty of old or cheap locks can be shimmed, but the place this technique shines most is with those front-dial combination locks. Sure, you can look up the model number, find some arcane YouTube video, and spend 30 minutes decoding it (both the video *and* the lock)...
...or you can do a little shimming fuckery and have it open in seconds.
To shim a lock, you'll need two things: a shimmable lock, and something to shim it with.
So how do I tell if a lock is able to be shimmed? Well, there are three main types of locking mechanisms on padlocks: ballbearing, spring-loaded, and warded (which you can see an example of in lesson 10). We want the spring-loaded kind.
The easy way to tell the spring-loaded ones from the ballbearing is that the cutouts in the shackle will look like either an upside-down "7" or a "]" for the pawl, instead of a ")" which indicates a ball-bearing lock. This matters because if the only thing keeping the locking pawl (that little metal bit that grabs the shackle's cutout) in place is a stiff spring, then the only thing between us and opening the lock is reaching it.
How do we reach that pawl? With a little piece of metal called a padlock shim. They look like a little mouth with a blep 👅 at the bottom—and like A Christmas Story, we want to get it right up against that pole.
How to shim a padlock:
- Insert the shim with the tongue facing away from the mechanism (toward the outside).
- Pinch the wings so it hugs the shackle.
- Push it down as far as it will go.
- Rotate/work it toward the inside of the lock while keeping pressure on it.
- Wiggle and press down on the shackle a bit to help it slide in.Once it’s in:
- Hold the shim in place.
- Give the shackle a firm yank—and probably send your shim flying."Wtf, Alice, it didn't work?! How could you lie to me?"
Okay, slow down. There are a few reasons for that.
First, the mechanism might be on the other side of the shackle—or even on both sides.
If it's still not working, the shim either isn’t deep enough, isn’t long enough, or the lock isn’t spring-loaded.
Additionally, some locks are *technically* shimmable, but the clearance around the shackle is too narrow to fit a shim in. In this case, a thinner shim, or a narrow pokey piece of metal might still work.
Finally, this lesson wouldn't be complete without mentioning that padlock shims are a disposable resource. They *will* break—sometimes after only a couple uses. If you're lucky, they'll last for dozens of attempts though.
Which leads me to my friend, @deviantollam, who is well-known for making shims out of soda or beer cans. These shims are fragile, but they'll work in a pinch and only take a moment to make. If you're good, you can even tear a can into a close enough shape for the job—just be careful, those fuckers are *sharp*.
-
#LearnLockpickingWithAlice lesson 11: Shimming shit ('cause ain't nobody got time for dial locks).
Plenty of old or cheap locks can be shimmed, but the place this technique shines most is with those front-dial combination locks. Sure, you can look up the model number, find some arcane YouTube video, and spend 30 minutes decoding it (both the video *and* the lock)...
...or you can do a little shimming fuckery and have it open in seconds.
To shim a lock, you'll need two things: a shimmable lock, and something to shim it with.
So how do I tell if a lock is able to be shimmed? Well, there are three main types of locking mechanisms on padlocks: ballbearing, spring-loaded, and warded (which you can see an example of in lesson 10). We want the spring-loaded kind.
The easy way to tell the spring-loaded ones from the ballbearing is that the cutouts in the shackle will look like either an upside-down "7" or a "]" for the pawl, instead of a ")" which indicates a ball-bearing lock. This matters because if the only thing keeping the locking pawl (that little metal bit that grabs the shackle's cutout) in place is a stiff spring, then the only thing between us and opening the lock is reaching it.
How do we reach that pawl? With a little piece of metal called a padlock shim. They look like a little mouth with a blep 👅 at the bottom—and like A Christmas Story, we want to get it right up against that pole.
How to shim a padlock:
- Insert the shim with the tongue facing away from the mechanism (toward the outside).
- Pinch the wings so it hugs the shackle.
- Push it down as far as it will go.
- Rotate/work it toward the inside of the lock while keeping pressure on it.
- Wiggle and press down on the shackle a bit to help it slide in.Once it’s in:
- Hold the shim in place.
- Give the shackle a firm yank—and probably send your shim flying."Wtf, Alice, it didn't work?! How could you lie to me?"
Okay, slow down. There are a few reasons for that.
First, the mechanism might be on the other side of the shackle—or even on both sides.
If it's still not working, the shim either isn’t deep enough, isn’t long enough, or the lock isn’t spring-loaded.
Additionally, some locks are *technically* shimmable, but the clearance around the shackle is too narrow to fit a shim in. In this case, a thinner shim, or a narrow pokey piece of metal might still work.
Finally, this lesson wouldn't be complete without mentioning that padlock shims are a disposable resource. They *will* break—sometimes after only a couple uses. If you're lucky, they'll last for dozens of attempts though.
Which leads me to my friend, @deviantollam, who is well-known for making shims out of soda or beer cans. These shims are fragile, but they'll work in a pinch and only take a moment to make. If you're good, you can even tear a can into a close enough shape for the job—just be careful, those fuckers are *sharp*.
-
Now that Twitter is a Junkyard, I Need a Way to Deal with the Twitter Posts Cited on this Blog
“Live, ongoing connections to people – not your old posts or your identifiers – impose the highest switching costs for any social media service,” argues Cory Doctorow in a recent post. Well, yeah, but hear me out.
I’ve abandoned my Twitter account, for all the obvious reasons, but for the sake of good housekeeping on this WordPress site I haven’t deleted it . In the years when I was active on Twitter, I cited and linked to my own tweets in a number of blog posts here, especially those having to do with mining around the Lake Superior region and FOIA production. Now I am looking for some way to preserve those tweets before they disappear or stop working, as Musk continues to break the thing he bought.
Of course, I should never have counted on it, but I did.
One answer is to go back through all my posts and convert the tweets into screenshots. Do I have to settle for that? It sounds like dreary work; it also wouldn’t really do the trick. Some of the tweets cited on this blog are parts of longer threads, where I am developing an argument or describing the public record, and ideally I would like to allow readers to click through and read the whole thread, ideally some place other than Twitter. I would also want any media included with those tweets to carry over.
I understand that I can use Porto to import the whole Twitter works to Bluesky, and I may end up doing that, but then I will still have to go back through all my posts and change those links to Bluesky. More dreary work. Besides, I have serious qualms about Bluesky: it just looks like Zombie Twitter to me, the same online strivers hopped up on dopamine and chasing the elusive brass ring. My qualms only deepen when I read people like Doctorow or L. Rhodes.
The recent announcement of Series A funding by Blockchain Capital makes noises about sharing Bluesky’s user-first design philosophy that “empowers the people,” but talk from venture capitalists about power and people should always be viewed with suspicion, or dismissed outright, as should their promise not to “hyperfinancialize the social experience,” as if the financialization of social experience is not bad enough, morally, socially, politically, and as if there is a bright line between financialization and hyperfinancialization that won’t eventually be crossed.
All that means that relying on Bluesky could land me in this same situation a few years down the road. Eventually, the walls will go up, and (to borrow Doctorow’s metaphor) there won’t be any fire exits.
I see that Shawn Hooper has developed a WordPress plugin that will import a Twitter archive to WordPress. While I am not sure I am technically competent to implement it (probably not! not my bailiwick at all), it looks promising, and maybe despite my incompetence I can figure it out or find someone to help me figure it out.
Essentially what I am looking for is an effective way to host those old tweets right here, on WordPress. Self-hosting, self-reliance, or mutual reliance that allows people to opt out, wherever possible, of the financializing and hyperfinancializing of the social web and social experience, looks like the only viable way forward.
Type your email…
Subscribe
#collapse #financialization #hyperfinancialization #mutualAid #socialCollapse #socialMedia #switchingCosts #Wordpress
-
Another sketch from my main Black Butler AU that I now think looks awful and plan to redraw. Also including my original ramble:
Trying to write a Black Butler AU with some fluff where Sebastian and Ciel have a parent-child like relationship WHILE keeping them in-character (Sebas more than Ciel tbh) and still basing it on canon material but making changes and making said changes make sense requires a bit of work ngl.
I mean, I know it’s just a project I’m doing for fun and technically there’s nothing stopping me from going nuts and making them completely OOC and disregarding canon at all, but I feel then it’d become a separate story with new, original characters who simply happen to be inspired by Kuro (which is also okay, and who knows, maybe in the future I’ll repurpose the whole thing to create my own Kuro-inspired original story, even if I don’t think I’ll ever fully lose interest in Kuro, this cursed series has me in a chokehold lmao).
Sebastian is the hardest one to write, though I think I’m finally more or less figuring it out. I didn’t want to write him as suddenly learning to love the way humans do thanks to the power of cute children or something, as it just didn’t feel natural (or I couldn’t personally make it feel natural, I know other people have managed to write that concept very well). What I have so far is that when he does act nurturing he’s simply imitating the behavior of human parents he has observed, but he doesn’t love the kid the same way humans do because he literally doesn’t have that ability. BUT that doesn’t mean he feels nothing at all and that it doesn’t mean anything to Ciel, after all this weird creature is the one who saved his life and raised him with care and patience. The closest comparison I can think of is the relationship between people and “unusual” pets like reptiles, amphibians, insects, etc. We know they can’t love us the way other people (or even other mammals) would but that doesn’t make our bond any less significant! Some bits of canon material also come in handy here, for example I based the fact that familiar Sebas finds Ciel adorable as a kitten on the canon fact that he likes squishing his cheeks because they remind him of a cat’s paws 😂 Just know he’s an awkward demon who doesn’t know how to human but is doing his best 🥺
I think in Ciel’s case I have more freedom since he is, after all, human, and a human’s personality is strongly shaped by their environment and life experiences. Like, what exactly counts as making a character OOC? Sure, I can agree that in a fanwork set in the exact same universe with the exact same events as in canon there’s some things a character would never say or do, but I think AUs were created as a way to explore what-if scenarios. What if this character had been raised by different people? What if they had grown up in a different place? What if this or that event hadn’t happened or had gone differently? Tbh I think it’s just fun to explore endless possibilities, it’s maybe a form of character analysis in some way. And if we think about it, canonverse Ciel was originally sweet, shy and affectionate, and if he’s the complete opposite now it’s only because he went through an utterly horrific and traumatic event that forced him to grow up before his time and toughen himself up because it left him with little to no support system, on top of having to be hyper vigilant because the only thing that “saved” him from that is a literal demon who wants his soul and is haunting him.
So I just wanted to create this alternative timeline where maybe things aren’t as terrible, or they start out as terrible but then some good things come from the most unexpected sources. Ciel is five years younger and thus has more time to process everything and try to heal as he grows up. Sebas isn’t entirely a bastard and willingly does nice things for the child, even if he still doesn’t understand human needs, and while he stills views him as a potential meal (at least at the beginning) he’s actually respectful. There’s another demon who understands humans all too well and is happy to lend a hand. His friends and the relatives he has left are more involved in his life. So Ciel more or less has a support system now, albeit a weird dysfunctional one, and doesn’t entirely lose his sweetness (also like… he’s 5/6 at the beginning of the story, we really can’t expect a preschooler to be an edgy emo who craves violence and revenge ☠️). I imagine he grows up to be just as calculating and cunning as canonverse Ciel, maybe even just as ruthless in his job because it’s a requirement, and is still pretty much a little shit, but this Ciel is not as cold and undemonstrative. He’s still very much an introvert who prefers to be left alone, but he smiles (as in genuinely smile) more often and it’s a little easier for him to express emotions and feelings (more through actions than words, but still meaningful). Hell he may allow himself to be playful and silly sometimes if he’s in the moment.
And if it wasn’t clear from the picture, little Ciel ADORES Sebastian. Sure he’s (understandably) a bit skittish around him at first, but once they bond he comes to fully view him as a parental figure. Yes, he’s hurt, sad and traumatized, but he’s still a resilient little kid, and with enough kindness Sebas can coax his old self to come out of his shell, and until the kid becomes more independent they’re like a mama duck and her lil duckling. Their constant banter and bickering when he’s older is more a teens being teens thing than anything.
From 2023
#eli's-art #art #digital-art #procreate #sketch #work-in-progress #wip #art-wip #wip-wednesday #fanart #au #kuroshitsuji #black-butler #sebastian-michaelis #dadbastian #mombastian #ciel-phantomhive #our-ciel #ociel #o!ciel #old-piece -
US District Judge Cormac Carney has approved bail for neo-nazi fight club impresario Rob Rundo on the ground that fascists can't get a fair shake in the legal system, whereas antifascists don't get the same harsh treatment.
This is the same Judge Carney who tossed the charges against Rundo back in February for the same reason.
For background, Rundo is a co-founder of the Rise Above Movement (RAM), which is the prototype on which today's "Active Clubs" are based. Active clubs are a decentralized network of neo-nazi fight clubs conceived and promoted by Rundo.
The thing is, he mostly got the active club project off the ground while he was a fugitive in (mostly) Eastern Europe. He was indicted in 2018 for conspiracy to riot due to RAM's engagement in altercations with antifascists at a Trump rally in California in 2017. Rundo bolted and was finally arrested in Romania last year with a couple of fake passports in his possession and extradited to the US last summer. Also noteworthy: that was the second time he fled the country to escape an indictment.
Does any of this sound like someone who is "not a flight risk"?
At any rate, Carney is clearly out to right the wrong of excessive prosecution of violent Nazis. In his opinion granting bail, he laid into both prosecutors and antifa. He writes:
“An objective review of the evidence reveals that though Mr. Rundo espouses a hateful ideology, he and his co-defendants were not the true threat to democracy at rallies. Contrary to the government’s accusations, it was Antifa, a far-left extremist group, that posed the insidious threat to democracy.”
Carney explicitly recognizes Rundo's history of fleeing, writing:
“In fairness to Mr. Rundo, during many of these periods he was technically free to travel. Still Mr. Rundo’s use of fake documents and other deceptive tactics while attempting to travel internationally demonstrate that, in practical terms, he was trying to evade prosecution and is willing to leave the country to maintain his freedom.”
He also doesn't see any much likelihood that Rundo poses any danger to the community. He writes:
"Because there are reasonable conditions that can reasonably assure the safety of the community and Mr. Rundo’s appearance as required, Mr. Rundo is entitled to bail."
and
“Because the allegations of Mr. Rundo’s violence are limited to a particular context, release conditions, such as prohibiting Mr. Rundo from attending any political rally or associating with any member of any white nationalist organization, are well suited to addressing any potential danger to the community.”
Anyways, it's a good thing there are brave judges out there willing to make sure that Nazis get treated fairly. Democracy would be totally screwed if they couldn't just run around beating people.
-
CW: Long list of what we like on Mastodon
Hey all,
To help the #MoveToMasto Movement, can we list all the reasons why we like #Mastodon?
(See this other post for the things to be improved)I’ll start (in no specific order):
[1] it’s non-profit
[2] it’s ad-free
[3] you can edit posts (but edit history is visible), for example add the answer to a post once you got it, or update a list like I'm doing now according to the answers
[4] it’s not (too) addictive
[5] it has very varied contents, interesting suggestions, the bloomscrolling hashtag (among... many others)
[6] you can follow hashtags
[7] its technically impossible that 1 person will buy and destroy it
[8] a single person or company doesn’t control what you see
[9] you can format posts with Markdown (on some versions)
[10] you can write loooong posts if you want (on some versions, like mine)
[11] most people are nice and genuine ❤️
[12] you can choose between local, home or federated timelines, each with their advantages
[13] you can show verified links in your account
[14] Introduction posts 🌟
[15] you can use content warnings for many purposes
[16] most people add alt-text to their visual content
[17] it's open source
[18] it's open access
[19] there are many apps to chose from to connect to it, and the default one (browser) is great too
[20] good content moderation (of course, depends on server) + possibility of using filters, lists and its anti-viral design
[21] it's truly international![…] your turn!
updated with contributions from @dustin_, @knutson_brain, @UlrikeHahn, @alicia_izquierdo - thanks all!🙏
-
Illustration: Hypatia of Alexandria and Giordano Bruno.
If I encounter a #Fundie or an Xtian who speaks gently, I try to speak gently in return. Now that #MAGA is in the picture, as MAGA is distilled hatred, the Everclear of Christianity, gentle isn't always possible. However, I'd like to lay out a few points in this thread with civility in mind.
Part 1. We can all agree that Wikipedia is just a starting point for research.
It isn't true that just anybody can sign up and add whatever they like. That used to be true. In 2008, the situation was over the top and there was an internal [but public] trial to settle one case. For old-timers, I'm referring to the Slender Virgin Naked Shorting scandal. Which, technically, may have contributed to the Crash of 2008. Yay, Wikipedia.
The trial worked primarily to sweep abuses under the rug. FWIW Jimmie Wales offered to discuss the matter with me. When I pointed out that he'd destroyed evidence, he seemed to lose interest in the discussion.
However, if just anybody adds just anything these days to a Wikipedia article, and it's an important subject, the additions are reverted. To survive, the website has become a least common denominator project.
Part 2. No, there is no strong evidence that #Jesus of Nazareth ever even physically existed. He may have physically existed, but claims which go beyond that don't rise even to the level of myth that is consistent among His contemporaries.
The New Testament, the primary source even as myth for the existence of this person, is a set of texts composed up to 90 years after the putative death of Christ. Some of the texts were composed much earlier, 30 years after His death, but those claim to be by a single person, Paul, when [scholars agree] a number of different people wrote them.
To be fair, there is a core set of Pauline texts, about half a dozen, that were probably written by one person. The others are fan fiction, not a pejorative point but accurate enough, that were added to canon later.
The author of the Pauline core set, Paul, is the only named New Testament author who probably existed and probably wrote at least part of the New Testament. And Paul didn't even claim to have met Jesus Christ.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John weren't named formally as New Testament writers until the Second Century A.D. Four people with those names probably existed. But there is no significant reason to believe that they wrote the texts that are attributed to them. Attribution didn't take place until Christ, if He existed, had been dead for at least 120 to 150 years.
Today, we can't agree about what happened 3 months ago even if it's on video. And this was, again, 120 to 150 years.
We haven't even started on contradictions that are common to all imagined stories that grow over time into myth. A good question to ask Xtians is, "How did Judas die?" The response that is usually offered is, "You're only repeating what the Devil says. I can't hear you. Maranatha. Maranatha."
Spoiler alert: Judas both hanged himself and fell from a height and burst open. #Xtian apologists say that it was both, but it's an awkward conflation.
Nor have we gotten to the fact that the most commonly cited non-Church reference to a historic Christ, the one in Josephus's writings, was faked by Christian copyists. There is a claim that a reference existed before the Christians edited the text, but I haven't seen the evidence to this effect.
I realize now that this thread requires a book. Which has actually been written a number of times.
I'm not able to see how this thread started. But the part about how Christians shouldn't cite Christianity, the fact that it exists, as a justification for anything strikes a chord.
My mother's father was a religious leader of the Ukrainian Diaspora 100 years ago. He was the gentlest man alive. This doesn't change the fact that the religion he supported has been the most horrific and brutal force, after Genghis Khan aka Temujin, of the past 2,000 years. So, it's a conundrum.
The Catholic Church began with the rape and murder of Hypatia circa 415 A.D. This was the moment when civilization could have headed down either of two paths: Enlightenment, progress, a move away from the fact of ape origins. Or a millenium of darkness, horror, and torture and murder of the innocent.
It was the second path. Yay, Church.
They allowed Galileo to live. They burned Giordano Bruno to death. They burned countless other men, women, and children to death as well.
"Oh, that was the past" ? A secular organization can come back from that. But not a "religion". If a "religion" behaves as the one and only original Church did, it isn't possible to brush it aside and still be the religion.
I welcome discussion with #Christians who are civil despite the fact of the brutality of Christianity. MAGA, a subset, not so much. I recommend civility to others as well. But the context isn't argument from authority by Christians. -
Illustration: Hypatia of Alexandria and Giordano Bruno.
If I encounter a #Fundie or an Xtian who speaks gently, I try to speak gently in return. Now that #MAGA is in the picture, as MAGA is distilled hatred, the Everclear of Christianity, gentle isn't always possible. However, I'd like to lay out a few points in this thread with civility in mind.
Part 1. We can all agree that Wikipedia is just a starting point for research.
It isn't true that just anybody can sign up and add whatever they like. That used to be true. In 2008, the situation was over the top and there was an internal [but public] trial to settle one case. For old-timers, I'm referring to the Slender Virgin Naked Shorting scandal. Which, technically, may have contributed to the Crash of 2008. Yay, Wikipedia.
The trial worked primarily to sweep abuses under the rug. FWIW Jimmie Wales offered to discuss the matter with me. When I pointed out that he'd destroyed evidence, he seemed to lose interest in the discussion.
However, if just anybody adds just anything these days to a Wikipedia article, and it's an important subject, the additions are reverted. To survive, the website has become a least common denominator project.
Part 2. No, there is no strong evidence that #Jesus of Nazareth ever even physically existed. He may have physically existed, but claims which go beyond that don't rise even to the level of myth that is consistent among His contemporaries.
The New Testament, the primary source even as myth for the existence of this person, is a set of texts composed up to 90 years after the putative death of Christ. Some of the texts were composed much earlier, 30 years after His death, but those claim to be by a single person, Paul, when [scholars agree] a number of different people wrote them.
To be fair, there is a core set of Pauline texts, about half a dozen, that were probably written by one person. The others are fan fiction, not a pejorative point but accurate enough, that were added to canon later.
The author of the Pauline core set, Paul, is the only named New Testament author who probably existed and probably wrote at least part of the New Testament. And Paul didn't even claim to have met Jesus Christ.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John weren't named formally as New Testament writers until the Second Century A.D. Four people with those names probably existed. But there is no significant reason to believe that they wrote the texts that are attributed to them. Attribution didn't take place until Christ, if He existed, had been dead for at least 120 to 150 years.
Today, we can't agree about what happened 3 months ago even if it's on video. And this was, again, 120 to 150 years.
We haven't even started on contradictions that are common to all imagined stories that grow over time into myth. A good question to ask Xtians is, "How did Judas die?" The response that is usually offered is, "You're only repeating what the Devil says. I can't hear you. Maranatha. Maranatha."
Spoiler alert: Judas both hanged himself and fell from a height and burst open. #Xtian apologists say that it was both, but it's an awkward conflation.
Nor have we gotten to the fact that the most commonly cited non-Church reference to a historic Christ, the one in Josephus's writings, was faked by Christian copyists. There is a claim that a reference existed before the Christians edited the text, but I haven't seen the evidence to this effect.
I realize now that this thread requires a book. Which has actually been written a number of times.
I'm not able to see how this thread started. But the part about how Christians shouldn't cite Christianity, the fact that it exists, as a justification for anything strikes a chord.
My mother's father was a religious leader of the Ukrainian Diaspora 100 years ago. He was the gentlest man alive. This doesn't change the fact that the religion he supported has been the most horrific and brutal force, after Genghis Khan aka Temujin, of the past 2,000 years. So, it's a conundrum.
The Catholic Church began with the rape and murder of Hypatia circa 415 A.D. This was the moment when civilization could have headed down either of two paths: Enlightenment, progress, a move away from the fact of ape origins. Or a millenium of darkness, horror, and torture and murder of the innocent.
It was the second path. Yay, Church.
They allowed Galileo to live. They burned Giordano Bruno to death. They burned countless other men, women, and children to death as well.
"Oh, that was the past" ? A secular organization can come back from that. But not a "religion". If a "religion" behaves as the one and only original Church did, it isn't possible to brush it aside and still be the religion.
I welcome discussion with #Christians who are civil despite the fact of the brutality of Christianity. MAGA, a subset, not so much. I recommend civility to others as well. But the context isn't argument from authority by Christians. -
#Alabama profits off #prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for #parole
"No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal #ConvictLeasing era that replaced #slavery — it has constructed a template for the #commercialization of #MassIncarceration."
By ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
Updated 5:10 PM EST, December 20, 2024DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A storm was looming when the inmate serving 20 years for armed robbery was assigned to transport fellow prisoners to their jobs at private manufacturers supplying goods to companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. It didn’t matter that Jake Jones once had escaped or that he had failed two drug and alcohol tests while in lockup — he was unsupervised and technically in charge.
By the time Jones was driving back to the work release center with six other incarcerated workers, it was pelting rain. Jones had a reputation for driving fast and some of his passengers said he was racing along the country road, jamming to music in his earbuds. Suddenly, the transport van hit a dip and swerved on the wet pavement, slamming into a tree."
#USPol #HumanRights #Prisoners #ForProfitPrisons #USPenalSystem
-
#Alabama profits off #prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for #parole
"No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal #ConvictLeasing era that replaced #slavery — it has constructed a template for the #commercialization of #MassIncarceration."
By ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
Updated 5:10 PM EST, December 20, 2024DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A storm was looming when the inmate serving 20 years for armed robbery was assigned to transport fellow prisoners to their jobs at private manufacturers supplying goods to companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. It didn’t matter that Jake Jones once had escaped or that he had failed two drug and alcohol tests while in lockup — he was unsupervised and technically in charge.
By the time Jones was driving back to the work release center with six other incarcerated workers, it was pelting rain. Jones had a reputation for driving fast and some of his passengers said he was racing along the country road, jamming to music in his earbuds. Suddenly, the transport van hit a dip and swerved on the wet pavement, slamming into a tree."
#USPol #HumanRights #Prisoners #ForProfitPrisons #USPenalSystem
-
#Alabama profits off #prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for #parole
"No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal #ConvictLeasing era that replaced #slavery — it has constructed a template for the #commercialization of #MassIncarceration."
By ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
Updated 5:10 PM EST, December 20, 2024DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A storm was looming when the inmate serving 20 years for armed robbery was assigned to transport fellow prisoners to their jobs at private manufacturers supplying goods to companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. It didn’t matter that Jake Jones once had escaped or that he had failed two drug and alcohol tests while in lockup — he was unsupervised and technically in charge.
By the time Jones was driving back to the work release center with six other incarcerated workers, it was pelting rain. Jones had a reputation for driving fast and some of his passengers said he was racing along the country road, jamming to music in his earbuds. Suddenly, the transport van hit a dip and swerved on the wet pavement, slamming into a tree."
#USPol #HumanRights #Prisoners #ForProfitPrisons #USPenalSystem
-
#Alabama profits off #prisoners who work at McDonald’s but deems them too dangerous for #parole
"No state has a longer, more profit-driven history of contracting prisoners out to private companies than Alabama. With a sprawling labor system that dates back more than 150 years — including the brutal #ConvictLeasing era that replaced #slavery — it has constructed a template for the #commercialization of #MassIncarceration."
By ROBIN MCDOWELL and MARGIE MASON
Updated 5:10 PM EST, December 20, 2024DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A storm was looming when the inmate serving 20 years for armed robbery was assigned to transport fellow prisoners to their jobs at private manufacturers supplying goods to companies like Home Depot and Wayfair. It didn’t matter that Jake Jones once had escaped or that he had failed two drug and alcohol tests while in lockup — he was unsupervised and technically in charge.
By the time Jones was driving back to the work release center with six other incarcerated workers, it was pelting rain. Jones had a reputation for driving fast and some of his passengers said he was racing along the country road, jamming to music in his earbuds. Suddenly, the transport van hit a dip and swerved on the wet pavement, slamming into a tree."
#USPol #HumanRights #Prisoners #ForProfitPrisons #USPenalSystem
-
CW: Being sexy in OpenSim requires illegal content all over that's as new as possible and absolutely over the top and impractical, but don't you dare reject it
I think I've figured out OpenSim's current "sexiness standards" for female avatars.
The thing in OpenSim in 2025 is: Not only are the sexiness standards completely absurd by now, but female avatars seem to be required to be as sexy as possible, always and everywhere. Refuse, and you're likely to be ostracised for it.
In general, legal content disfigures you greatly because it isn't on the same level as the best premium payware in Second Life. Hardly anyone will openly admit that their avatars consist entirely of illegal parts, down to the often unmodified shape. But not few are ready and willing to roast you for wearing anything legal.
On top of that, the Second Life rat race for always having only the newest and hottest stuff on your avatar has reached OpenSim. Not only must you wear ripped Second Life content, but you must wear Second Life content that was ripped no more than two years ago. Not even one year for clothes.
Just like in Second Life, the "best" female mesh body is Legacy. It's apparently the very definition of "sexy". After all, there are freebie stores that only offer female clothes for Legacy now. I don't know what it's like in Second Life, but here in OpenSim, female avatars seem to also be required to have hips twice as wide as their waist and thighs that are way thicker than their head is big. Tone your shape down, and you're no longer sexy.
As so many freebie store owners wanted to offer Legacy and wanted to offer that body exclusively, there are at least ten different independent Legacy imports. I guess all of them were no-transfer originally. Those who imported them didn't want other freebie store owners to steal their stolen mesh bodies and harvest the visitors they wanted to claim for themselves. In the meantime, at least some Legacy variants were god-moded, either to full perms or simply to be put up in another freebie store while remaining no-transfer.
By the way: It doesn't look like anyone could ever be bothered to give Legacy a new name.
Next comes LaraX. Its target audience appears to be those who want a new hot body while largely keeping the looks of their avatars. Except for the face because they replace the head that often.
On a distant third place, there's Simona. To my best knowledge, this ripped copy of Maitreya Lara 5.3 is only available on the one sim in Trianon-World for which it was "created". That sim also offers LaraX under the name of Xara.
I guess nobody acquires Athena for new avatars anymore. The same goes for any variant of SLink Physique Hourglass (BBHG, Je'Thai HG and especially Decadence-HG, the only one that was given basic BoM support as far as I know) even though that body is even more extreme in shape than Legacy. A typical HG avatar used to have hips three times as wide as the waist.
Of course, an EvoX head is mandatory for "good-looking" avatars nowadays. The same goes for Doux hair. By next year, your avatar will be painfully outdated without 2K skins. 2K PBR skins even if PBR support is added to BoM until then. I'm not sure whether veins have become a must now; I guess the community is torn between the highest possible detail level and perfection. I mean, if realism really was that essential, female avatars would be based on Legacy Perky or LaraX Petite, and I would be criticised for my absurdly big boobs. But as things are right now, Legacy Perky and LaraX Petite are still constantly on the verge of being regarded underage because everyone is used to huge boobs.
Clothing really shows the shift in what's considered sexy.
For example, five years ago, 15cm stilettos were the sexiness benchmark. Back then already, almost all female avatars ran around with their feet permanently in a high-heel position, even when they were barefoot. I mean, at most beach events, I was the only one capable of changing the foot position without requiring working avatar scripts and changing my height accordingly without using the hover height slider. All the Athenas were often powerless after Hypergridding because their avatar scripts no longer worked, and Athena is notorious for blowing up when detached and re-attached while out and about on the Hypergrid. Something else, by the way, that I can do with Ruth2 v4 with no problems, even if Ruth2 v4 has much more advanced scripted BoM support than any ripped Second Life body.
Nowadays, 15cm stilettos are the absolute minimum requirement for not being compared with an ugly old granny. If you want to be sexy, you have to wear sandals with 30cm stiletto heels and 15cm platform soles. Always and everywhere. And I've actually seen even higher footwear in stores. Not long until those 15cm platforms will be the norm, and the even higher ones will be the minimum for sexiness.
It wasn't that long ago that skirts were a kind of touchy issue. Super-short micro-mini skirts and dresses were preferred, not only because they caused little to no clipping due to less-than-optimal rigging, but also for sexiness. Still, many worried that their undies could peek out. Or their private parts because their skirt or dress was so clingy that it was impossible to wear mesh underwear underneath it. Rigging these garments required a few tricks.
In the meantime, the first skirts and dresses appeared that always bare your buttocks.
Nowadays, if you want to be sexy, you have to wear skirts and dresses which are so short that they reveal your underwear while you're standing up. In fact, they must even reveal your underwear to you when you switch your camera to front view, and then the camera is hovering a great deal higher than your own head. These skirts and dresses usually come with their own underwear, but it's often as tiny as one can get away with. Technically speaking, you could get banned from the OSgrid Plazas for wearing such clothes because the Plaza rules cite "exposed underwear" as a bannable offence.
Some things haven't changed, however. You're still expected to bare as much skin as possible because only the maximum amount of bare skin is sexy. A two-part outfit must bare your midriff. Ideally, so should a dress, at least partially; alternatively, it must reveal as much cleavage as is tolerable on a General-rated sim.
This, of course, goes together with the wide-spread idea that it's always not only summer everywhere in OpenSim, but actually sweltering heat. Yes, even on a Christmas-themed, snow-covered winter sim at night. Oh, and yes, you can walk and even dance on 15cm platforms with 30cm stiletto heels both on snow and ice and on sand. People will most likely keep this attitude up even when winter sims have started using PBR materials for snow and ice to be even more realistic. Being as sexy as possible is such a hard requirement that adapting your outfit to your surroundings has become a complete no-no.
Hosiery is only allowed in the shape of nylon stockings with the garters in plain sight, worn more like lingerie than to keep your legs warm in colder weather. Still, completely naked legs are sexier. One reason why nobody has ever stolen nylon tights from Second Life.
And lastly, and this hasn't changed either: You must never make full use of the capabilites of BoM. It's only for skins, make-up and, more recently, skin details. You must never use it to wear layer clothes. In this light, I wonder why two new shops with layer clothes have opened in the last few months if actually wearing them is frowned upon. The other reason why nobody has ever stolen nylon tights from Second Life.
If you're like me, and you refuse to both wear illegal content all over and participate in that maximum sexiness game all the time, you'd better have friends whom you can hang around with, who support you and your style and who may even back you up and defend you.
#OpenSim #OpenSimulator #SecondLife #Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #VirtualClothing #VirtualFashion -
@Metaverse Standards Forum I can't help but wonder if there's any influence or inspiration or experience from Second Life, the pioneer of highly modular and highly customisable avatars, going into this. And I mean actually using it, not hearsay or reading about it. (Mentioning OpenSim is probably futile here.)
Especially female avatars are tricky. Linden Labs has learned that the hard way after only supporting male/unisex clothes. When people wanted their female avatars to optionally wear high heels, or when they wanted them to wear skirts that move with the legs, Second Life's avatar standard had to be changed. All that was stuff that nobody had thought of early on, even if the default starter avatar was technically female.
For good skirts, look at Sinespace and Overte, by the way.
#Metaverse #VirtualWorlds #Avatar #Avatars #VirtualClothing #Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost -
Equity Sans Font Family by Font Catalogue
This post contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you click on them and make a purchase. It’s at no extra cost to you and helps us run this site. Thanks for your support!
Geometric sans serifs have dominated the design landscape for decades. Most of them share one problem: they are cold. Their precision keeps readers at arm’s length. The Equity Sans font family by Font Catalogue breaks that pattern entirely. It brings genuine warmth, circular geometry, and real structural depth to a category that usually feels clinical. Designers working across wellness, beauty, lifestyle, and editorial spaces are adopting it with good reason. It solves a problem most typefaces cannot — being modern and emotionally accessible at the same time.
Get the complete family from MyFontsWhat Makes the Equity Sans Font Family Different From Other Geometric Sans-Serif Typefaces?
The answer starts with the circle. Pure circular forms define every letterform in the Equity Sans font family. That foundation alone is not unusual for geometric typefaces. But what Equity Sans does next sets it apart. Most geometric sans serifs sharpen their endpoints. That sharpness creates tension — it reads as precise, but also cold. Equity Sans softens its terminals instead. Rounded endpoints extend the circular logic outward. Every character carries a sense of ease and openness. The result is neither rigid nor loose. It lands somewhere far more interesting than either extreme.
Equity Sans Font Family by Font Catalogue Get the complete family from MyFontsThe Circle as a Design Philosophy
There is a growing school of thought in contemporary typography. Call it Soft Geometry — where designers use mathematical foundations without sacrificing human warmth. The typeface embodies this approach more completely than almost any other recent release. Its open counters and generous curves create what this article defines as Geometric Accessibility: the ability of a typeface to communicate structural confidence while remaining emotionally approachable. This is not softness for its own sake. Moreover, it is a deliberate typographic choice with real functional implications for brand communication. A typeface that balances both qualities becomes a powerful tool — not just a stylistic preference.
Rounded Terminals and the Concept of Open Rhythm
Open rhythm is another defining characteristic of the typeface. The spacing between letters breathes. It does not crowd itself. Brands working in wellness, personal care, and lifestyle benefit most from this quality. Type that crowds itself creates subtle anxiety in readers. Type that breathes creates ease and trust. The Equity Sans font family chooses ease without sacrificing legibility. Furthermore, that balance is genuinely rare in geometric typefaces. It takes careful type design to preserve structural discipline while achieving genuine openness — and Equity Sans achieves it.
Who Should Use the Equity Sans Font Family?
The Equity Sans font family is not trying to serve every use case. That clarity of purpose is one of its greatest strengths. It suits brands operating in the warm, the soft, and the human — but with structure and credibility behind them. Think beauty packaging. Think wellness apps, maternal care products, skincare, organic food brands, and contemporary editorial design. Any brand communicating care, wellbeing, or accessible quality will find the typeface a natural fit.
Beauty and Wellness Branding With Equity Sans
Beauty typography has long relied on two modes. Either the high-fashion coldness of sharp-contrast serifs, or the friendly-but-forgettable warmth of naively rounded sans-serifs. The typeface offers a genuine third path. It reads as premium without feeling exclusive. It feels caring without feeling childish. For brands communicating quality alongside accessibility — an increasingly common brief in beauty and wellness — the Equity Sans font family delivers exactly the right typographic register. It is modern, clean, and warm all at once.
Lifestyle and Editorial Design Applications
Editorial designers working in lifestyle publications face a specific challenge. They need type that functions across headlines, subheadings, body copy, and captions — and stays coherent throughout. The Equity Sans font family handles this range exceptionally well. Its eight weights create real flexibility across all those contexts. Its eight corresponding italic cuts extend that range further. Additionally, the overall character of the typeface stays consistent across the full weight range. That consistency is harder to achieve than it sounds, and it matters enormously in multi-context editorial systems.
The Equity Sans Font Family Weight Structure: A System Built for Complexity
Most typeface families offer four to six weights. The Equity Sans font family offers eight. Furthermore, it pairs each weight with a dedicated italic cut. That means sixteen cuts in total — a serious, professional type system. Brand designers building comprehensive visual identity systems will recognize what that depth provides. A logo, a landing page, an editorial spread, a packaging label — each demands a different weight and optical scale. The typeface accommodates all of them without requiring a secondary typeface.
What Sixteen Cuts Mean for Brand Identity Systems
Consistency is the real luxury in branding. When a brand stays within a single typeface family across all touchpoints, its visual language becomes more cohesive and more recognizable. The Equity Sans font family makes single-typeface brand systems genuinely viable — even for complex, multi-channel brands. Design teams spend less time managing font conflicts and more time building strong visual narratives. That is an underappreciated operational advantage that a rich type system like this one provides.
From Light to Black: The Full Equity Sans Weight Range
The lightest weights of the Equity Sans font family carry an almost editorial delicacy. They suit luxury skincare body text, minimalist app interfaces, and refined caption work. The heaviest weights, by contrast, carry real visual presence. Importantly, they do so without sacrificing the typeface’s inherent warmth. This is where the circle-based foundation does its most important structural work. Heavy geometric typefaces often lose their character at large sizes — they become simply loud. The typeface stays characterful under pressure. It gains presence without losing itself.
Equity Sans and the Rise of Warm Geometry in Brand Typography
Typography trends rarely appear from nowhere. The rise of warm, approachable geometric typefaces reflects something broader happening in design culture. After a decade of ultra-minimal, cold-corporate aesthetics — maximum whitespace, hairline serifs, brutal precision — brands are recalibrating. They want to feel human. They want to build emotional trust, not just visual credibility. The Equity Sans font family arrives at exactly the right moment for exactly that conversation.
Defining “Warm Geometry” as an Emerging Typographic Category
Warm Geometry — a term this article introduces — describes typefaces built on mathematical, circular foundations that deliberately incorporate humanist warmth into their detailing. Rounded terminals, open apertures, and generous spacing are its defining attributes. The Equity Sans font family is arguably the clearest current example of this category. Unlike purely humanist typefaces, Warm Geometry retains structural discipline. Unlike cold geometric typefaces, it prioritizes approachability. It occupies a genuinely new middle space — and that space is exactly where contemporary brand typography is moving.
The Cultural Context Behind Soft Design Aesthetics
Consumer culture is shifting toward care, authenticity, and wellness. Brand language is as follows. Typography — often the first language a brand speaks — is adapting accordingly. The growth of wellness categories, maternal care, clean beauty, and mindful consumption has created genuine demand for typefaces that communicate through warmth rather than assertion. Accordingly, designers who recognize this shift early will make better typeface decisions for the brands they build. The typeface is a direct response to that cultural moment.
How to Use the Equity Sans Font Family Effectively in Design
Understanding a typeface is one thing. Using it well is another. The Equity Sans font family rewards careful application. Every weight and cut has a natural home in a well-built design system. The following considerations help designers apply it with intention rather than instinct.
Pairing Equity Sans With Complementary Typefaces
The Equity Sans font family works best when paired with typefaces that respect its warmth. High-contrast serifs with sharp bracketing create visual tension rather than balance. Instead, consider pairing Equity Sans with low-contrast serifs or refined humanist typefaces in contexts requiring a secondary typographic voice — long-form editorial body copy, for instance. The primary Equity Sans weight does the architectural work. Any secondary typeface adds textural variety without competing with the warm geometry that defines Equity Sans.
Applying the Equity Sans Font Family to Brand Identity
For logos and primary wordmarks, the medium or semibold weight of the Equity Sans font family delivers the best combination of presence and openness. Lighter weights carry insufficient visual weight at small application sizes. Heavier weights can feel more assertive than the typeface’s natural character suggests. The sweet spot sits in the middle, where the circular geometry and rounded terminals read most clearly. For subheadings and supporting labels, the book and regular weights extend the system with ease and coherence.
Equity Sans in Digital Environments
Digital typography demands legibility at variable sizes and across device resolutions. The typeface performs well under those conditions. Its open counters and generous apertures maintain readability at small sizes. Its rounded terminals remain clear rather than blurring at lower resolutions. For app interfaces, digital packaging mockups, and landing pages, the Equity Sans font family is technically as well as aesthetically well-suited. It does not just look right — it functions correctly in the demanding digital contexts modern brands require.
The Equity Sans Font Family and the Future of Brand Typography
Typography is a brand decision. The typeface a brand chooses shapes how audiences perceive it before they read a single word. The Equity Sans font family makes a clear argument: geometric precision and human warmth are not opposites. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a typeface can carry serious structural depth — sixteen cuts, circle-based geometry, a full weight range — without sacrificing emotional accessibility. That combination is exactly where forward-thinking brand typography is heading.
A Prediction: Warm Geometry Will Define Brand Typography This Decade
Over the next ten years, Warm Geometry typefaces — those built on mathematical circular foundations but softened through rounded detailing and open rhythm — will become the dominant typographic category across wellness, beauty, lifestyle, and consumer technology sectors. The Equity Sans font family is not the last of its kind. It is an early signal of a larger shift. Designers who understand this shift now will make better, more durable typographic decisions for the brands they develop.
Equity Sans as a Reference Typeface for a New Category
Reference typefaces are those that define what a category can be. The Equity Sans font family is positioning itself as the reference typeface for Warm Geometry. Its eight weights, circular foundation, rounded terminals, and coherent character across the full range make it one of the most complete realizations of this emerging typographic approach available today. When designers discuss soft geometric sans-serif fonts in ten years, the typeface will be part of that conversation — not as a trend, but as a standard.
Get the complete family from MyFontsFrequently Asked Questions About the Equity Sans Font Family
What is the Equity Sans font family?
The Equity Sans font family is a geometric sans-serif typeface by Font Catalogue. It is built on pure circular forms, features rounded terminals, open counters, and generous letter spacing. It includes eight weights and eight italic cuts, making it a comprehensive type system for brand and editorial design.
Who makes the Equity Sans font family?
The typeface is designed and distributed by Font Catalogue.
What is the Equity Sans font family best used for?
It excels in beauty, wellness, lifestyle, and consumer brand design. It also performs strongly in editorial layouts, app interfaces, packaging design, and branding contexts that call for modern warmth and approachability.
How many weights does the family include?
The family includes eight weights and eight corresponding italic cuts, totaling sixteen typeface cuts — a comprehensive type system for complex brand applications.
Is the typeface suitable for digital use?
Yes. The open counters, rounded terminals, and generous apertures of the Equity Sans font family ensure strong legibility across digital environments, including app interfaces, websites, and digital advertising at variable sizes.
What makes the Equity Sans font family different from other geometric sans-serifs?
Most geometric sans-serif typefaces prioritize cold precision through sharp terminals. The Equity Sans font family applies circular geometry while incorporating rounded detailing and open spacing — creating what this article defines as Geometric Accessibility: structural confidence with emotional warmth.
What typefaces pair well with the Equity Sans font family?
Low-contrast serifs and humanist typefaces complement the typeface most effectively. High-contrast serifs with sharp bracketing create visual tension rather than typographic balance.
Is the Equity Sans font family a good choice for logo design?
Yes. The medium and semibold weights of the Equity Sans font family deliver the clearest combination of visual presence and openness for logo and wordmark applications, where legibility and character both matter at varied scales.
What is Warm Geometry in typography?
Warm Geometry is a term introduced in this article to describe typefaces built on mathematical, circular foundations that incorporate humanist warmth through rounded terminals, open apertures, and generous spacing. The Equity Sans font family is the clearest current example of this emerging typographic category.
What is Geometric Accessibility in type design?
Geometric Accessibility is a term introduced in this article to describe a typeface’s ability to communicate structural confidence while remaining emotionally approachable. The Equity Sans font family achieves this through its circular base forms, rounded terminals, and open rhythmic spacing.
Where can designers access the Equity Sans font family?
The complete family is available through MyFonts.
Get the complete family from MyFontsFeel free to find other trending typefaces in the Fonts section here at WE AND THE COLOR.
#EquitySans #font #FontCatalogue #fontFamily #sansSerif -
Big Event This Weekend
There is a big deal happening this weekend. It’s been four years in the making. I guess technically it has been 22 years in the making but it’s the last four that really count.
My step son, Harry, is graduating from college! The University of Vermont’s commencement weekend festivities kick off tomorrow and I am so proud of Harry that I legitimately fear that I am going to spontaneously combust. Like, ka-boom and stuff. He has grown up to be such a fine human. Brilliant, kind, a deep seated hatred of donald trump the orange shit clown. He’s a far better man than I am, and this weekend is all about him. A Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Good work, Harry!
We’re heading up to Vermont as soon as I punch out of work tonight. I can’t wait to spend the weekend celebrating Harry and his accomplishment. It’s going to be a great time… even though… the forecast is calling for rain during the Sunday morning outdoor commencement ceremony. That might suck. Everything else though, I can’t wait!
#adultKids #collegeGraduation #collegeKids #commencement #Family #graduation #grownUpKids #Kids #StepKids #universityOfVermont #UVM
-
Big Event This Weekend
There is a big deal happening this weekend. It’s been four years in the making. I guess technically it has been 22 years in the making but it’s the last four that really count.
My step son, Harry, is graduating from college! The University of Vermont’s commencement weekend festivities kick off tomorrow and I am so proud of Harry that I legitimately fear that I am going to spontaneously combust. Like, ka-boom and stuff. He has grown up to be such a fine human. Brilliant, kind, a deep seated hatred of donald trump the orange shit clown. He’s a far better man than I am, and this weekend is all about him. A Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Good work, Harry!
We’re heading up to Vermont as soon as I punch out of work tonight. I can’t wait to spend the weekend celebrating Harry and his accomplishment. It’s going to be a great time… even though… the forecast is calling for rain during the Sunday morning outdoor commencement ceremony. That might suck. Everything else though, I can’t wait!
#adultKids #collegeGraduation #collegeKids #commencement #Family #graduation #grownUpKids #Kids #StepKids #universityOfVermont #UVM
-
Big Event This Weekend
There is a big deal happening this weekend. It’s been four years in the making. I guess technically it has been 22 years in the making but it’s the last four that really count.
My step son, Harry, is graduating from college! The University of Vermont’s commencement weekend festivities kick off tomorrow and I am so proud of Harry that I legitimately fear that I am going to spontaneously combust. Like, ka-boom and stuff. He has grown up to be such a fine human. Brilliant, kind, a deep seated hatred of donald trump the orange shit clown. He’s a far better man than I am, and this weekend is all about him. A Bachelors Degree in Psychology. Good work, Harry!
We’re heading up to Vermont as soon as I punch out of work tonight. I can’t wait to spend the weekend celebrating Harry and his accomplishment. It’s going to be a great time… even though… the forecast is calling for rain during the Sunday morning outdoor commencement ceremony. That might suck. Everything else though, I can’t wait!
#adultKids #collegeGraduation #collegeKids #commencement #Family #graduation #grownUpKids #Kids #StepKids #universityOfVermont #UVM
-
Owncloud Vs Nextcloud. The Latest!!
The world of self-hosted cloud storage has long been something of a niche interest—like owning a bread maker or becoming unexpectedly passionate about composting—but in recent years it has found a more mainstream audience. Whether due to privacy concerns, legal compliance, cost savings, or simply a desire to be master of one’s own digital destiny, more individuals and organisations are deciding that surrendering every document to some giant Silicon Valley server farm may not be the only way forward. In this landscape, two names stand out as the most popular choices for running one’s own personal or professional cloud: OwnCloud and Nextcloud.
At first glance, they seem almost identical—like two siblings who shop at the same clothing store, have similar haircuts, and insist they are “totally different”. In truth, they share the same technical roots, the same general philosophy, and, for a good while, even shared a large chunk of their code. Yet over time, the two have evolved in rather different directions. One has grown steadily more enterprise-focused, structured, and traditional. The other has become community-driven, fast-moving, and occasionally prone to enthusiastic feature binges. Put simply: OwnCloud is the reliable, buttoned-up elder sibling, while Nextcloud is the energetic, multitasking younger one who has already tried three new hobbies before breakfast.
This essay offers a detailed, critical, and gently humorous comparison between the two platforms. We will explore their origins, features, performance, security models, user experience, community ecosystem, extensibility, and suitability for different use cases. Along the way, we’ll also address some of the politics behind the fork—because nothing spices up a discussion about file synchronisation quite like a bit of open-source drama.
Let us begin at the beginning.
1. A Brief Origin Story (Without the Soap Opera—Well, Not Too Much)
OwnCloud was founded over a decade ago with a simple yet ambitious mission: to give individuals and companies a way to host their own cloud storage and collaboration tools, rather than relying on third-party services. Structured as an open-source project with a commercial arm, OwnCloud quickly became popular due to its relative ease of deployment and its compatibility across platforms. For several years, it was the name in the self-hosted cloud world.
Then came 2016, a year memorable for many things (not least a few surprising geopolitical outcomes), but also for a significant schism in the OwnCloud development team. Several core contributors disagreed with the company’s direction, organisational decisions, and approach to open-source governance. They left OwnCloud Inc. and created Nextcloud, a fork of the OwnCloud codebase, promising a more community-driven and transparent future.
The situation was, to use formal terminology, “a bit awkward”. Think of it as a band split where the lead guitarist storms off, forms a new group, and somehow manages to take half the album with him. OwnCloud continued on its path, while Nextcloud immediately began introducing new features, integrations, and workflow improvements at great speed.
The result? Two platforms that started from the same foundation but have become increasingly distinct. One stayed its original course. The other overtook, upgraded, occasionally reinvented itself, and once or twice seemed to be actively sprinting to see how many new features it could add before lunch.
Today both are mature, powerful, and widely deployed solutions—but they appeal to somewhat different audiences.
2. Philosophy and Governance: Enterprise Structure vs Community Zeal
OwnCloud has leaned into a more traditional software vendor model. It offers a community edition and a commercial version with paid support, enterprise-grade features, and long-term stability guarantees. Its release cadence tends to be steady rather than frantic, and its decision-making structure is tightly aligned with its commercial priorities. This is not to say that OwnCloud does not value open-source—far from it—but it has clearly prioritised predictable, stable product development and long-standing enterprise relationships.
Nextcloud, meanwhile, is unapologetically community-centred. It maintains a more open governance model, rapidly integrates feedback, and often pushes out new features before the community has even decided what to do with them. This is both a blessing and, occasionally, a mild headache. The project’s pace of development can feel exhilarating—or overwhelming, depending on your tolerance for frequent updates. Nextcloud’s transparency and responsiveness have drawn a large and loyal user base, especially among technically minded home users, privacy advocates, and small organisations.
If OwnCloud is a carefully run professional kitchen, Nextcloud is a bustling food market: colourful, lively, full of options, and sometimes offering three new dishes before you’ve even finished the last one.
3. Feature Comparison: The Essentials and the Flourishes
3.1 Core File Synchronisation and Sharing
At the heart of both platforms is file sync and share functionality—the ability to store files on your own server and access them via desktop clients, mobile apps, or the web interface. Both support:
- File synchronisation across devices
- Sharing via links, groups, or users
- Versioning
- Deleted file recovery
- Encryption options
- Web-based file management
For the core experience, the two are broadly comparable. Both are stable, performant, and flexible. Where differences emerge is in the surrounding ecosystem of features.
3.2 Collaboration Tools
This is where Nextcloud has truly sprinted ahead.
Nextcloud now includes:
- A fully fledged office suite integration (via partnerships with open-source editors)
- Built-in video conferencing
- Chat/messaging tools
- Email integration
- Calendar and contacts management
- Project management boards
- Deck (like Trello but without the urge to charge you monthly for adding stickers)
- Unified search across multiple data sources
- And much more
If there is a collaborative feature that someone, somewhere, thought might be useful, there is a decent chance Nextcloud has integrated it already.
OwnCloud, in contrast, has taken a more modular, stripped-back approach. It focuses strongly on file management while providing optional integrations for collaborative tools, particularly with commercial offerings. This leads to a cleaner, less cluttered interface and is arguably easier to optimise.
Nextcloud sometimes feels like a Swiss Army knife that keeps insisting on adding one more tool; OwnCloud feels more like a high-quality pocket knife designed specifically for cutting things, not opening wine bottles or removing bicycle tyres.
3.3 Extensibility and Apps
Both platforms have app ecosystems, but Nextcloud’s App Store is significantly larger and more diverse. This comes down to its strong community engagement and willingness to integrate new ideas.
OwnCloud’s marketplace is more curated and conservative, prioritising stable, enterprise-ready extensions over experimental ones.
If you like being able to add new capabilities with reckless abandon, Nextcloud will feel like a candy shop. If you prefer your extensions to be vetted, steady, and unlikely to set fire to anything, OwnCloud’s more measured approach might be preferable.
4. Performance and Efficiency: Who Runs Faster, Who Runs Cooler
Performance comparisons between the two must be taken with context. Both depend heavily on server configuration, caching layers, database tuning, and deployment architecture.
However, general observations can be made:
OwnCloud Performance
OwnCloud tends to be slightly more resource-efficient, especially in large enterprise deployments. Its focus on core file services means it often carries less overhead. It also offers a commercial “infinite scale” platform designed for extremely large installations with high availability requirements. This makes OwnCloud especially appealing to institutions needing predictable performance under heavy load.
Nextcloud Performance
Nextcloud’s rapid expansions sometimes introduce resource overhead. The more apps you enable, the more CPU and memory you will need. However, the project has significantly improved performance over the years and continues to optimise aggressively.
For small-to-medium deployments, Nextcloud performs superbly. For extremely large deployments with tens or hundreds of thousands of users, it can still perform very well—but OwnCloud’s enterprise stack remains attractive for organisations wanting iron-clad predictability.
In short:
- Home users: You’ll never notice the difference.
- SMEs: Both work well; Nextcloud offers more features.
- Huge corporations: OwnCloud may deliver slightly more predictable scaling.
5. Security: Two Approaches, Both Strong
Security is a crucial selling point for both platforms. They share many best practices, including:
- Support for end-to-end encryption
- Strong server-side encryption options
- Multi-factor authentication
- Audit logs
- Access controls
- File integrity checking
The key difference lies in approach:
Nextcloud
Nextcloud emphasises rapid integration of new security technologies. It has introduced several innovative features, including machine-learning-driven login anomaly detection. It also tends to respond quickly to vulnerabilities thanks to its active community.
OwnCloud
OwnCloud, being more traditional and enterprise-oriented, emphasises consistency and long-term stability. Its commercial edition offers Enterprise Security Hardening tools designed for regulated industries.
Both platforms meet high security standards. If forced to choose:
- Nextcloud offers more cutting-edge tools
- OwnCloud offers stricter, more controlled security pathways
6. User Experience and Interface Design
Interfaces in open-source software can sometimes range from “pleasant and modern” to “constructed by electrical engineers after a long lunch”. Fortunately, both OwnCloud and Nextcloud offer polished, attractive, user-friendly web interfaces.
Nextcloud UI
Nextcloud’s interface is bustling but well organised. It emphasises modern design, easy navigation, and integrated workflows. Some might call it feature-rich; others might call it “a bit busy”, especially once multiple apps are enabled.
OwnCloud UI
OwnCloud opts for a more minimalistic, streamlined experience. It feels cleaner, more focused, and less cluttered. One might even say it is “calmer”, as if it has been on a digital mindfulness retreat.
Overall:
- Nextcloud is great for users who want everything at their fingertips.
- OwnCloud is great for users who want the cloud equivalent of a tidy desk.
7. Client Applications: Desktop, Mobile, and Interoperability
Both platforms provide:
- Desktop sync clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Good WebDAV support
- API access for integration
Nextcloud’s clients tend to receive more frequent feature updates, reflecting its rapid development model. OwnCloud’s clients emphasise stability and long-term reliability.
There are edge cases where one may outperform the other, but for everyday usage they are comparable.
8. Community and Ecosystem: A Tale of Two Crowds
Nextcloud Community
Nextcloud boasts one of the most active and enthusiastic communities in the self-hosted software world. It has:
- Frequent contributions
- A large volunteer base
- Active forums
- Numerous third-party integrations
- Strong engagement between developers and users
This community energy has driven much of Nextcloud’s innovation.
OwnCloud Community
OwnCloud still maintains a solid community, but its commercial structure means much development happens internally at the company. This results in a more predictable but less frenetic ecosystem.
If you want access to a large community culture full of ideas, Nextcloud wins. If you prefer a quieter, more predictable ecosystem that feels less like a festival and more like a professional conference, OwnCloud is your platform.
9. Enterprise Support and Commercial Offerings
OwnCloud Enterprise
OwnCloud positions itself strongly in the enterprise space. Its commercial offerings include:
- High-availability architecture
- Professional support
- Enterprise-grade security enhancements
- Long-term maintenance guarantees
- Tools for extremely large distributed installs
Large companies, government agencies, and regulated institutions may find OwnCloud’s approach reassuring.
Nextcloud Enterprise
Nextcloud also offers enterprise subscriptions, but its commercial model is more tightly integrated with its community edition. Many organisations find this appealing because they can easily scale from hobbyist deployments to professionally supported ones without major architectural changes.
Where OwnCloud goes for strict structure and specialisation, Nextcloud emphasises flexibility and open development.
10. Stability vs Innovation: The Essence of the Difference
The heart of the comparison may be summarised thus:
- OwnCloud is the platform you choose when you want predictability, stability, and a strong enterprise backbone.
- Nextcloud is the platform you choose when you want innovation, collaboration tools, rapid feature evolution, and a vibrant ecosystem.
Both are strong. Both work well. But they serve subtly different philosophical markets.
11. Use Case Recommendations
Choose Nextcloud if you want:
- A highly integrated digital workspace (files, chat, video, email, and more)
- Rapid feature updates and wide third-party extensions
- A large, lively community
- Collaboration and productivity tools beyond simple storage
- A system that feels like your own private alternative to big tech platforms
Ideal for: home users, privacy enthusiasts, small to mid-sized organisations, educational institutions, and anyone who wants rich collaborative functionality.
Choose OwnCloud if you want:
- A stable, enterprise-focused platform
- High performance at large scale
- Predictable commercial support and long-term maintenance
- A cleaner, simpler user environment
- A strong focus on core file synchronisation without dozens of extra modules
Ideal for: large enterprises, government departments, regulated industries, and environments where uptime and consistency outweigh rapid innovation.
12. Conclusion: Two Platforms, One Mission, Different Attitudes
OwnCloud and Nextcloud share a common ancestry and a common goal: giving users control over their digital assets. Yet their evolution has produced two distinct personalities.
OwnCloud has become the disciplined, reliable, enterprise-ready elder sibling—focused, efficient, and unlikely to surprise you.
Nextcloud, meanwhile, is the enthusiastic, feature-packed younger sibling who constantly explores new ideas, integrates new tools, and occasionally delivers so much functionality that you find yourself wondering whether you truly needed a Kanban board integrated into your cloud storage (but then you use it anyway and realise you quite enjoy it).
Both platforms deserve their place in the modern self-hosted cloud ecosystem. The “better” choice depends not on which is objectively superior, but on what you value:
- Predictability or innovation?
- Minimalism or everything-in-one-place?
- Strict enterprise architecture or community-driven evolution?
Whatever your preference, the real winner is the user—who now has two powerful, open, flexible alternatives to the increasingly centralised, data-harvesting world of corporate cloud services. And that, in an age when everything from your toaster to your trainer socks wants to connect to the internet, is something truly worth celebrating.
-
Owncloud Vs Nextcloud. The Latest!!
The world of self-hosted cloud storage has long been something of a niche interest—like owning a bread maker or becoming unexpectedly passionate about composting—but in recent years it has found a more mainstream audience. Whether due to privacy concerns, legal compliance, cost savings, or simply a desire to be master of one’s own digital destiny, more individuals and organisations are deciding that surrendering every document to some giant Silicon Valley server farm may not be the only way forward. In this landscape, two names stand out as the most popular choices for running one’s own personal or professional cloud: OwnCloud and Nextcloud.
At first glance, they seem almost identical—like two siblings who shop at the same clothing store, have similar haircuts, and insist they are “totally different”. In truth, they share the same technical roots, the same general philosophy, and, for a good while, even shared a large chunk of their code. Yet over time, the two have evolved in rather different directions. One has grown steadily more enterprise-focused, structured, and traditional. The other has become community-driven, fast-moving, and occasionally prone to enthusiastic feature binges. Put simply: OwnCloud is the reliable, buttoned-up elder sibling, while Nextcloud is the energetic, multitasking younger one who has already tried three new hobbies before breakfast.
This essay offers a detailed, critical, and gently humorous comparison between the two platforms. We will explore their origins, features, performance, security models, user experience, community ecosystem, extensibility, and suitability for different use cases. Along the way, we’ll also address some of the politics behind the fork—because nothing spices up a discussion about file synchronisation quite like a bit of open-source drama.
Let us begin at the beginning.
1. A Brief Origin Story (Without the Soap Opera—Well, Not Too Much)
OwnCloud was founded over a decade ago with a simple yet ambitious mission: to give individuals and companies a way to host their own cloud storage and collaboration tools, rather than relying on third-party services. Structured as an open-source project with a commercial arm, OwnCloud quickly became popular due to its relative ease of deployment and its compatibility across platforms. For several years, it was the name in the self-hosted cloud world.
Then came 2016, a year memorable for many things (not least a few surprising geopolitical outcomes), but also for a significant schism in the OwnCloud development team. Several core contributors disagreed with the company’s direction, organisational decisions, and approach to open-source governance. They left OwnCloud Inc. and created Nextcloud, a fork of the OwnCloud codebase, promising a more community-driven and transparent future.
The situation was, to use formal terminology, “a bit awkward”. Think of it as a band split where the lead guitarist storms off, forms a new group, and somehow manages to take half the album with him. OwnCloud continued on its path, while Nextcloud immediately began introducing new features, integrations, and workflow improvements at great speed.
The result? Two platforms that started from the same foundation but have become increasingly distinct. One stayed its original course. The other overtook, upgraded, occasionally reinvented itself, and once or twice seemed to be actively sprinting to see how many new features it could add before lunch.
Today both are mature, powerful, and widely deployed solutions—but they appeal to somewhat different audiences.
2. Philosophy and Governance: Enterprise Structure vs Community Zeal
OwnCloud has leaned into a more traditional software vendor model. It offers a community edition and a commercial version with paid support, enterprise-grade features, and long-term stability guarantees. Its release cadence tends to be steady rather than frantic, and its decision-making structure is tightly aligned with its commercial priorities. This is not to say that OwnCloud does not value open-source—far from it—but it has clearly prioritised predictable, stable product development and long-standing enterprise relationships.
Nextcloud, meanwhile, is unapologetically community-centred. It maintains a more open governance model, rapidly integrates feedback, and often pushes out new features before the community has even decided what to do with them. This is both a blessing and, occasionally, a mild headache. The project’s pace of development can feel exhilarating—or overwhelming, depending on your tolerance for frequent updates. Nextcloud’s transparency and responsiveness have drawn a large and loyal user base, especially among technically minded home users, privacy advocates, and small organisations.
If OwnCloud is a carefully run professional kitchen, Nextcloud is a bustling food market: colourful, lively, full of options, and sometimes offering three new dishes before you’ve even finished the last one.
3. Feature Comparison: The Essentials and the Flourishes
3.1 Core File Synchronisation and Sharing
At the heart of both platforms is file sync and share functionality—the ability to store files on your own server and access them via desktop clients, mobile apps, or the web interface. Both support:
- File synchronisation across devices
- Sharing via links, groups, or users
- Versioning
- Deleted file recovery
- Encryption options
- Web-based file management
For the core experience, the two are broadly comparable. Both are stable, performant, and flexible. Where differences emerge is in the surrounding ecosystem of features.
3.2 Collaboration Tools
This is where Nextcloud has truly sprinted ahead.
Nextcloud now includes:
- A fully fledged office suite integration (via partnerships with open-source editors)
- Built-in video conferencing
- Chat/messaging tools
- Email integration
- Calendar and contacts management
- Project management boards
- Deck (like Trello but without the urge to charge you monthly for adding stickers)
- Unified search across multiple data sources
- And much more
If there is a collaborative feature that someone, somewhere, thought might be useful, there is a decent chance Nextcloud has integrated it already.
OwnCloud, in contrast, has taken a more modular, stripped-back approach. It focuses strongly on file management while providing optional integrations for collaborative tools, particularly with commercial offerings. This leads to a cleaner, less cluttered interface and is arguably easier to optimise.
Nextcloud sometimes feels like a Swiss Army knife that keeps insisting on adding one more tool; OwnCloud feels more like a high-quality pocket knife designed specifically for cutting things, not opening wine bottles or removing bicycle tyres.
3.3 Extensibility and Apps
Both platforms have app ecosystems, but Nextcloud’s App Store is significantly larger and more diverse. This comes down to its strong community engagement and willingness to integrate new ideas.
OwnCloud’s marketplace is more curated and conservative, prioritising stable, enterprise-ready extensions over experimental ones.
If you like being able to add new capabilities with reckless abandon, Nextcloud will feel like a candy shop. If you prefer your extensions to be vetted, steady, and unlikely to set fire to anything, OwnCloud’s more measured approach might be preferable.
4. Performance and Efficiency: Who Runs Faster, Who Runs Cooler
Performance comparisons between the two must be taken with context. Both depend heavily on server configuration, caching layers, database tuning, and deployment architecture.
However, general observations can be made:
OwnCloud Performance
OwnCloud tends to be slightly more resource-efficient, especially in large enterprise deployments. Its focus on core file services means it often carries less overhead. It also offers a commercial “infinite scale” platform designed for extremely large installations with high availability requirements. This makes OwnCloud especially appealing to institutions needing predictable performance under heavy load.
Nextcloud Performance
Nextcloud’s rapid expansions sometimes introduce resource overhead. The more apps you enable, the more CPU and memory you will need. However, the project has significantly improved performance over the years and continues to optimise aggressively.
For small-to-medium deployments, Nextcloud performs superbly. For extremely large deployments with tens or hundreds of thousands of users, it can still perform very well—but OwnCloud’s enterprise stack remains attractive for organisations wanting iron-clad predictability.
In short:
- Home users: You’ll never notice the difference.
- SMEs: Both work well; Nextcloud offers more features.
- Huge corporations: OwnCloud may deliver slightly more predictable scaling.
5. Security: Two Approaches, Both Strong
Security is a crucial selling point for both platforms. They share many best practices, including:
- Support for end-to-end encryption
- Strong server-side encryption options
- Multi-factor authentication
- Audit logs
- Access controls
- File integrity checking
The key difference lies in approach:
Nextcloud
Nextcloud emphasises rapid integration of new security technologies. It has introduced several innovative features, including machine-learning-driven login anomaly detection. It also tends to respond quickly to vulnerabilities thanks to its active community.
OwnCloud
OwnCloud, being more traditional and enterprise-oriented, emphasises consistency and long-term stability. Its commercial edition offers Enterprise Security Hardening tools designed for regulated industries.
Both platforms meet high security standards. If forced to choose:
- Nextcloud offers more cutting-edge tools
- OwnCloud offers stricter, more controlled security pathways
6. User Experience and Interface Design
Interfaces in open-source software can sometimes range from “pleasant and modern” to “constructed by electrical engineers after a long lunch”. Fortunately, both OwnCloud and Nextcloud offer polished, attractive, user-friendly web interfaces.
Nextcloud UI
Nextcloud’s interface is bustling but well organised. It emphasises modern design, easy navigation, and integrated workflows. Some might call it feature-rich; others might call it “a bit busy”, especially once multiple apps are enabled.
OwnCloud UI
OwnCloud opts for a more minimalistic, streamlined experience. It feels cleaner, more focused, and less cluttered. One might even say it is “calmer”, as if it has been on a digital mindfulness retreat.
Overall:
- Nextcloud is great for users who want everything at their fingertips.
- OwnCloud is great for users who want the cloud equivalent of a tidy desk.
7. Client Applications: Desktop, Mobile, and Interoperability
Both platforms provide:
- Desktop sync clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux
- Mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Good WebDAV support
- API access for integration
Nextcloud’s clients tend to receive more frequent feature updates, reflecting its rapid development model. OwnCloud’s clients emphasise stability and long-term reliability.
There are edge cases where one may outperform the other, but for everyday usage they are comparable.
8. Community and Ecosystem: A Tale of Two Crowds
Nextcloud Community
Nextcloud boasts one of the most active and enthusiastic communities in the self-hosted software world. It has:
- Frequent contributions
- A large volunteer base
- Active forums
- Numerous third-party integrations
- Strong engagement between developers and users
This community energy has driven much of Nextcloud’s innovation.
OwnCloud Community
OwnCloud still maintains a solid community, but its commercial structure means much development happens internally at the company. This results in a more predictable but less frenetic ecosystem.
If you want access to a large community culture full of ideas, Nextcloud wins. If you prefer a quieter, more predictable ecosystem that feels less like a festival and more like a professional conference, OwnCloud is your platform.
9. Enterprise Support and Commercial Offerings
OwnCloud Enterprise
OwnCloud positions itself strongly in the enterprise space. Its commercial offerings include:
- High-availability architecture
- Professional support
- Enterprise-grade security enhancements
- Long-term maintenance guarantees
- Tools for extremely large distributed installs
Large companies, government agencies, and regulated institutions may find OwnCloud’s approach reassuring.
Nextcloud Enterprise
Nextcloud also offers enterprise subscriptions, but its commercial model is more tightly integrated with its community edition. Many organisations find this appealing because they can easily scale from hobbyist deployments to professionally supported ones without major architectural changes.
Where OwnCloud goes for strict structure and specialisation, Nextcloud emphasises flexibility and open development.
10. Stability vs Innovation: The Essence of the Difference
The heart of the comparison may be summarised thus:
- OwnCloud is the platform you choose when you want predictability, stability, and a strong enterprise backbone.
- Nextcloud is the platform you choose when you want innovation, collaboration tools, rapid feature evolution, and a vibrant ecosystem.
Both are strong. Both work well. But they serve subtly different philosophical markets.
11. Use Case Recommendations
Choose Nextcloud if you want:
- A highly integrated digital workspace (files, chat, video, email, and more)
- Rapid feature updates and wide third-party extensions
- A large, lively community
- Collaboration and productivity tools beyond simple storage
- A system that feels like your own private alternative to big tech platforms
Ideal for: home users, privacy enthusiasts, small to mid-sized organisations, educational institutions, and anyone who wants rich collaborative functionality.
Choose OwnCloud if you want:
- A stable, enterprise-focused platform
- High performance at large scale
- Predictable commercial support and long-term maintenance
- A cleaner, simpler user environment
- A strong focus on core file synchronisation without dozens of extra modules
Ideal for: large enterprises, government departments, regulated industries, and environments where uptime and consistency outweigh rapid innovation.
12. Conclusion: Two Platforms, One Mission, Different Attitudes
OwnCloud and Nextcloud share a common ancestry and a common goal: giving users control over their digital assets. Yet their evolution has produced two distinct personalities.
OwnCloud has become the disciplined, reliable, enterprise-ready elder sibling—focused, efficient, and unlikely to surprise you.
Nextcloud, meanwhile, is the enthusiastic, feature-packed younger sibling who constantly explores new ideas, integrates new tools, and occasionally delivers so much functionality that you find yourself wondering whether you truly needed a Kanban board integrated into your cloud storage (but then you use it anyway and realise you quite enjoy it).
Both platforms deserve their place in the modern self-hosted cloud ecosystem. The “better” choice depends not on which is objectively superior, but on what you value:
- Predictability or innovation?
- Minimalism or everything-in-one-place?
- Strict enterprise architecture or community-driven evolution?
Whatever your preference, the real winner is the user—who now has two powerful, open, flexible alternatives to the increasingly centralised, data-harvesting world of corporate cloud services. And that, in an age when everything from your toaster to your trainer socks wants to connect to the internet, is something truly worth celebrating.