Elfi, known bug enjoyer @elfi@pixie.town

I bought food! It wasn't a lot, but it's more than what we had. The kids had a great time at the village and I appreciate everyone that sent me something! Still fundraising to help my husband pay the transmission bill 💙

I have mutual aid on my #wishlists

Mine: 360/600! https://throne.com/SingsongRaptor
Cashapp/Venmo SingsongRaptor
https://www.paypal.me/spooniewolf

#MutualAid #BlackMutualAid #MutualAidRequest #DisabledCrowdfund #MABoost #TransCrowdFund #BlackTransMutualAid #HelpFolksLive2025

With today being Christmas, here is your annual reminder to be nice to newbies in your spaces.

There is going to be a very sudden influx of people who are just getting into the spaces you occupy because they got a gift that acts as their gateway into that activity. Maybe you're into photography and someone just bought them their first ever camera body, or you're into music and someone bought them their first guitar, or you're an audiophile and someone bought them their first really nice headphones, or you're big into TTRPGs and someone just bought them their first ever core rulebook.

Whatever the specific activity and gift, these people are going to have no idea what they're doing, they're going to ask a lot of obvious questions, they're going to make a lot of rookie mistakes, and there's going to be a lot of them.

I cannot stress this enough: BE NICE TO THEM.

Few things will ruin someone's enjoyment of something faster than trying to join its community and getting such a rude first impression that their conclusion is "People who like this are kind of assholes. I don't think I want to do this if it's going to involve getting yelled at." Craigslist and eBay and FB Marketplace will be filled with mint condition gifts being resold to attest to this in the coming months.

You were there at the very first step once. Be the person for them that you wish you had back then. (Or if you were lucky enough, the person you did have who fostered your love of it!) Make this something they'll love just as much as you do, not something they'll want to sell and get away from as soon as possible.

Be the reason this Christmas starts a lifelong passion for them, not the reason they decide to abandon something that they would've loved because people made them feel bad for needing a helping hand.

And on that night, Ebenezer Sega, CEO of Sega, was visited by three spirits:
1. The Ghost of Christmas in America, who recommended they make the 32X
2. The Ghost of Christmas Japan, who recommended they make the Sega Saturn
3. The Ghost of Christmas Brazil, who just wanted more Master System

Happy winter festivities ☃️

#PixelArt #Art #MastoArt

Many years ago when I was a student my landlady told me she had a tradition of reading #TerryPratchett's Hogfather every Christmas, and Lords and Ladies every summer solstice. And that remains the most sensible tradition I've ever heard of, so I adopted it immediately and have been doing it ever since

When Twitter collapsed, it was great to see the flood of friends, game devs and other come to Mastodon. Over the next 9 months a lot of them vanished to Threads, BlueSky or just left. I want to thank all people who are still on Mastodon and make it a wonderful place. You know who you are.

Canadians: there's a Parliament petition requesting the government to step in to take action against anti-trans provincial legislation. Being sponsored by Don Davies. Please sign if you're eligible. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7027

#canpoli

[asking a french cat to identify a brazilian coin] chat is this real

Good news you might have missed: Researchers in South Korea have developed a new eco-friendly recycling process that recovers more than 95 percent of nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries with almost perfect purity. https://interestingengineering.com/energy/recycling-nickel-cobalt-ev-batteries

Urgent #MutualAidRequest to help a homeless disabled trans couple stay sheltered another week

Goal (due 12/23):
Goal met! Thank you!

Hello Fedi. I am here asking for help to keep my partner @LukeOrion and I sheltered for another week. We have been able to find an extended stay hotel that is currently only $360 per week right now. Our current week is until Tuesday December 23. We are looking for help raising that $360 by Tuesday to keep us inside. We are a disabled and trans couple that has been dealing with homelessness for over a year.

Please boost for us, thank you so much!

My Venmo, or Luke’s PayPal:
https://linktr.ee/magicalgrrrl

My Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/magicalgrrrl

Vehicle fundraiser:
https://chuffed.org/project/155529-betty-and-luke-need-transportation

#MutualAid #TransCrowdfund #DisabledCrowdfund #MutualAidSavesLives #QueerCrowdfund #TransMutualAid #DisabledMutualAid #QueerMutualAid

@mutualaid

My car is finally fixed. While I wait for my uncle to finally tell me how much I owe him and getting the 350 back, I’m kinda on my own.

Right now my finances are in the dirt. I’m currently at my partners for about a month and I still have bills to pay and groceries to get one I return home early-mid January.

That’s pretty much it, unless something pops up.

The links are below, you can help me or boost to folks who can. just help a disabled boy get by 🫩

(I’m gonna have to change my stuff soon, as my move has been put on hold for about a year bc of landlord hand wringing)

Wishlists

All links: https://linksta.cc/@melaniemoo

Throne: https://throne.com/sparklejinx/

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/19TE8UE2TYCM4

Give Directly
https://cash.me/$melaninpony
https://paypal.me/melaninpony

@mutualaid

#TransCrowdFund #BlackMutualAid
#DisabilityCrowdfund #MutualAid #BlackMastodon #MovingFund
#MastodonForHarris #Mastodon4Harris
#MastodonForKamala

https://wedistribute.org/2025/10/wafrn-chaotic-good/

I don't really make a habit of telling people what software to use, but regular reminder that if it matters to you, Gabboman who created WAFRN is an antiblack shithead who is friends with other antiblack shitheads on the fediverse.

I'll never forget when he tried to derail me while I was describing being misgendered by eris and he came into the thread with whataboutisms complaining about something a different Black person had done. Then when I banned him, he went over to an alt on another server so he could keep harassing me and complain that I banned him, all the while I was getting abused and misgendered by other people commenting on me talking about transmisogynoir. And yes, I have receipts.

I had to take a couple days break off the fediverse after that. I'll never forget how awful it was. Fuck gabboman

If a trans guy is telling you how there is an issue with them being unwelcome in trans and other LGBTQ+ spaces they are not trying to infiltrate women and femme only spaces. Trans spaces are not automatically women and femme only and if you think they are then that is part of the issue.

A trans guy saying that anyone but cis guy spaces cause dysphoria and is very unaffirming is not a problem.

A trans guy saying they would feel more comfortable in lgbtq+ spaces rather than with a bunch of cis hetero dudes is not an issue. The issue is them feeling unwelcome in those spaces.

It is not something trans guys alone can solve. They’re not making you do emotional labor because they don’t have an answer.

the UNIX v4 tape reminded me of this story by Ali Akurgal about Turkish bureaucracy:

Do you know what the unit of software is? A meter! Do you know why? In 1992, we did our first software export at Netaş. We wrote the software, pressed a button, and via the satellite dish on the roof, at the incredible speed of 128 kb/s, we sent it to England. We sent the invoice by postal mail. $2M arrived at the bank. 3-4 months passed, and tax inspectors came. They said, “You sent an invoice for $2M?” “Yes,” we said. “This money has been paid?” they asked. “Yes,” we said. “But there is no goods export; this is fictitious export,” they said! So we took the tax inspectors to R&D and sat them in front of a computer. “Would you press this ‘Enter’ key?” we asked. One of them pressed it, then asked, “What happened?” “You just made a $300k export, and we’ll send its invoice too, and that will be paid as well,” we said. The man felt terrible because he had become an accomplice! Then we explained how software is written, what a satellite connection is, and how much this is worth. They said, “We understand, but there has to be a physical goods export; that’s what the regulations require.” So we said: “Let’s record this software onto tape (there were no CDs back then—nor cassettes; we used ½-inch tapes) and send that.” Happy to have found a solution, they said, “Okay, record it and send it.” The software filled two reels, which were handed to a customs broker, who took them to customs and started the export procedure. The customs officer processed things and at one point asked, “Where are the trucks?” The broker said, “There are no trucks—this is all there is,” and pointed to the tape reels on the desk. The customs officer said, “These two envelopes can’t be worth $2M; I can’t process this.” We went to court, an expert committee examined whether the two reels were worth $2M. Fortunately, they ruled that they were, and we were saved from the charge of fictitious export. The same broker took the same two reels to the same customs officer, with the court ruling, and restarted the procedure. However, during the process, the unit price, quantity, and total price of the exported goods had to be entered—as per the regulations. To avoid dragging things out further, they looked at the envelope, saw that it contained tape, estimated how many meters of tape there are on one reel, and concluded that we had exported 1k to 2k meters of software. So the unit of software became the meter.

@joomy

I once read a story about the people writing the software for the NASA Apollo missions. There was a functionary in charge of weight accounting, who came to them and asked how much the software would weigh.

They told him it weighted nothing, but the functionary had heard *that* one before and insisted—everything had to be accounted down to the last ounce. He demanded to see it.

They showed him a stack of punched cards, and he was triumphant. “You see,” he said smugly, “it doesn't weigh only ‘nothing’!”

“No, you misunderstand,” they replied. “The cards aren't going on the spacecraft. Only the holes.”

This is your reminder to cancel all those subscriptions you signed up for on sale at the end of 2024 that are about to renew at full price next week.

#adhd

First comm down :D - it's @ECMSquared 's Noctiliae, Valentine Butterloaf!

Want something similar? Just pop over here->
https://vgen.co/feff

#commissions #vgen #fediart